er series of dome-like mounds of crimson volcanic rock, with
hardly any vegetation on them--joined together, and forming many
headlands, as it were. Beyond an empty space--an opening in the
landscape--a great barrier crossed the range of domes almost at right
angles.

We descended through thick undergrowth, under big _jatoba do matto_
(_Hymencaea Courbaril_ L.) trees. The _jatoba_ or _jatahy_ wood has a high
specific gravity, and is considered one of the woods with the highest
resistance to disintegration in Brazil--as high as 1 kg. 315 gr. per
square centimetre.

At 2,050 ft. we found a streamlet flowing southward. We were then in a
grassy basin--another _cuvette_ with two central tufts of thickly packed
trees. We were lucky enough to see some _coco babento_ palms, from which
we shook down dates which were excellent, although somewhat troublesome
to eat, owing to the innumerable filaments protecting the central large
stone. These filaments stuck between one's teeth, and were most difficult
to remove. The dates were the size and shape of an ordinary English
walnut and extremely oily.

It was a real joy to see fine healthy trees again, after the miserable
specimens we had seen of late. Even there, too, the powerful trees which
emerged from the lower entangled scrub and dense foliage were greatly
contorted, as if they had gone through a terrific effort in order to push
their way through to reach the light and air. Liane innumerable and of
all sizes hung straight or festooned from the highest trees or coiled in
a deadly embrace round their branches like snakes. Nor were they the only
enemies of trees. Large swellings could be noticed around most of the
trees, caused by the terrible _cupim_ (_termes album_) or white ants,
carrying out their destructive work just under the bark. Many indeed were
the trees absolutely killed by those industrious little devils.

As we marched through the _matto_, using the large knives freely to open
our way, we had to make great deviations in our course--now because of a
giant _jatoba_ lying dead upon the ground, then to give a wide berth to a
group of graceful _akuri_ palms, with their huge spiky leaves. Those
palms had great bunches of fruit. We were beginning now to find trees
with fan-like extensions at the roots and base, such as I had frequently
met with in the forests of Mindanao Island (Philippine Archipelago),
where they were called _caripapa_ and _nonoko_ trees. The _vines_ or
_l