ow the maps of those regions had been got together, it was
really wonderful that, with all their blunders, they gave as much
information as they did. Unhappy, nevertheless, would be the poor
traveller who relied on those maps in making a journey across the
country. For instance, if you expected to come upon a certain river in
one day and did not get there until after ten or fifteen days' hard
marching; if you expected to find a mountain range--nearly as high as the
Himalayas or at least as high as the Andes, according to the deep shading
on the maps--and found instead an interminable flat plain; and if you saw
on your map rivers marked navigable, and found rapids instead, in
comparison with which the terrible ones of Niagara are mere child's play,
you would certainly become rather sceptical of prettily-drawn maps.

On most of the maps of Brazil one saw marked to the east of the Araguaya,
in the Goyaz Province, an immense range with no less a name than
Cordilheira Geral la Serra do Estrondo--or "General Range of the
Mountains of Noise." They were marked as the most prominent range in
Brazil--quite as high as the Andes of Peru, Bolivia, and Chili; whereas,
as a matter of fact, I was told on good authority that they were mere low
hills, where there were any hills at all.

To come to great geographical mistakes which came under my direct
observation, I found a very palpable one in the head-waters of the Cuyaba
River, which had their source to the north of the Serra Azul and not to
the south, as marked on many maps, including the Brazilian official maps.

We had to our left the Serra das Pedra--"Range of Rocks"--an
extraordinarily rocky range, which was crossed almost at right angles by
the Chapadao das Porcas. We marched through a wonderful growth of
palmeiras, some of the palms being as much as 30 ft. high. _Buritys_ were
innumerable along a small stream--the Rio Estivado--flowing south-west
into the Cubaya River. There were great quantities of _mangabeira_ trees.
We proceeded northward along a _chapada_--a capital Brazilian name which
denotes a locality that is neither a forest nor a prairie. The _chapada_
had scanty trees and scrub, but not enough to make it into a forest.

We were marching over low hills with surface deposits of sand and
cinders. We gradually reached an elevation of 1,050 ft. some 18 kil. from
camp, and shortly after--and only 50 ft. lower--entered a refreshing
grove of giant _palmeiras_ and _buritys_