and pride, which made it most difficult to deal with him. He had been
entrusted with the commissariat, as with all my other occupations I could
not be bothered to sort out and weigh the food for each man at each meal.
Alcides would not understand that it was unwise, in a country where
absolutely nothing was procurable, to throw away daily little mountains
of rice and beans and preserved meat, after the men and our dogs had
gorged themselves; and that perhaps it would lead some day to our dying
of starvation. In confidence I had told him that we might be several
months--perhaps a year--before we should be able to get fresh supplies. A
little economy would perhaps save us all from disaster. I wanted
everybody to have ample food, but I did not see the use of throwing away
daily a larger quantity than the men actually ate. It was true that we
still had ample provisions of all kinds for some eight months, but we
must be prepared for all emergencies.

Alcides, who was extremely obstinate, would not hear of this. My remarks
only made things worse. The waste from that day doubled, and looking
ahead into the future it really broke my heart, as I well saw that we
should have hard times in front of us--all because of the lack of
common-sense on the part of my followers.

On leaving camp we climbed to the summit of another gigantic dome of
green pasture land (elev. 2,500 ft.). We filled our lungs with the
delicious air, slightly stirred by a fresh northerly breeze.
Geographically, we were at a most important site, for it was from that
point that the division of waters took place between those flowing
eastward into the Araguaya and those flowing westward into the Cuyaba
River. So that within a distance of a few kilometres we had visited the
region--the very heart of Brazil--from which the waters parted to flow
toward three different points of the compass.

From that point we rose still higher to the summit of a great table-land,
absolutely flat and waterless for over 30 kil. The soil was red in
colour, with slippery dried grass upon it and sparse, stunted vegetation.
The trees seldom reached a height of 5 ft. They were mostly _gomarabia_
or _goma arabica_--a sickly-looking acacia; _passanto_ with its huge
leaves, _piqui_ or _pequia_ (_Aspidosperma sessiliflorum_ and _eburneum_
Fr. All.), the fibrous _piteira_ or _poteira_ (_Fourcroya gigantea_
Vent.), and short _tocun_ or _tucum_ palms (_Astrocaryum tucuma_ M.).
Occasionally one