Across Unknown South America | Page 5

GRANDE (MATTO GROSSO) (Coloured Plate) 294 THE PARED?O GRANDE, SHOWING VERTICAL ROCKS WITH GREAT ARCHES 300 MUSHROOM-SHAPED ROCKS OF VOLCANIC FORMATION 308 A GREAT EARTHQUAKE FISSURE IN THE TERRESTRIAL CRUST (MATTO GROSSO) 308 STRANGE GEOMETRICAL PATTERN OF LAVA OVER GIANT VOLCANIC DOME 316 AUTHOR'S TROOP OF ANIMALS WADING ACROSS A SHALLOW STREAM 324 CENTRAL CLUSTER OF TREES AND PALMS IN A CUVETTE (MATTO GROSSO) 332 A GIANT WAVE OF LAVA 332 STRANGE ROCK-CARVINGS OF MATTO GROSSO 336 WEIRD LUNAR EFFECT WITNESSED BY AUTHOR (Coloured Plate) 340 A GIANT QUADRANGULAR BLOCK OF ROCK 344 ROCK-CARVINGS IN MATTO GROSSO 344 A PICTURESQUE WATERFALL ON THE S. LOUREN?O RIVER 352 A CA?ON OF MATTO GROSSO 356 HOW AUTHOR'S ANIMALS ROLLED DOWN TRAILLESS RAVINES 360 HIDEOUS TYPES CHARACTERISTIC OF CENTRAL BRAZIL. TWO WOMEN (LEFT) AND TWO MEN (RIGHT) 364 AUTHOR'S CARAVAN MARCHING ACROSS TRAILLESS COUNTRY 368 THE RONCADOR RIVER 368 FOSSIL SKULL OF A GIANT ANIMAL DISCOVERED BY AUTHOR (SIDE VIEW) 376 FOSSIL SKULL OF GIANT ANIMAL (SEEN FROM UNDERNEATH) 376 A GRAND ROCK ("CHURCH ROCK") 384 CHURCH ROCK (SIDE VIEW) 384 QUADRANGULAR ROCKY MOUNTAIN CONNECTED BY NATURAL WALL OF ROCK WITH THE VERTICAL-SIDED RANGE IN BACKGROUND 388 QUADRANGULAR ROCKY MOUNTAIN SHOWING ROCKY WALL CONNECTING IT WITH THE NEIGHBOURING RANGE 392 AUTHOR'S CARAVAN IN THE HEART OF MATTO GROSSO 392 A GIANT DOME OF LAVA 396 CAMPOS AND CHAPADA OF MATTO GROSSO 396 MARVELLOUS SCENERY OF THE CENTRAL BRAZILIAN PLATEAU. "CHURCH ROCK" STANDING IN THE CENTRE (Coloured Plate) 400 A STREET OF DIAMANTINO 404 THE DOGS OF THE EXPEDITION 404 MATTO-GROSSO GIRL, A MIXTURE OF PORTUGUESE, INDIAN AND NEGRO BLOOD 412 BRAZILIAN CHILD, A MIXTURE OF PORTUGUESE AND NEGRO 412 MAP SHOWING AUTHOR'S ROUTE 432 MAP SHOWING THE ARINOS AND ARINOS-JURUENA RIVERS 432
CHAPTER I
The Heart of Brazil--Brazil, its Size and its Immense Wealth--Rio de Janeiro--Brazilian Men of Genius--S?o Paulo--The Bandeirantes--The Paulista Railway
"MORE than three months to reach the spot?" asked the cinematograph man in amazement. "Then perhaps Monsieur is on a journey to Mars or the moon! There is no spot on earth that takes so long to reach." (Hearty laughter at his own wit.)
That exclamation, and wise words that follow, came from the assistant of one of the largest firms of cinematograph appliances in Paris, where I had called in order to purchase a moving picture apparatus and 10,000 metres of film to be used on my forthcoming journey across the South American continent.
The shop assistant had very honestly warned me that if the films were to be used in a damp, tropical climate, they must be exposed and developed within three months of their manufacture. After that time they would become so perforated and fogged as to be quite useless. I had remarked that it would take me more than three months to reach the spot where I should begin to take cinematograph pictures.
"Will Monsieur please tell where is the spot where he would be likely to use the films?" continued the assistant, still overcome with surprise.
"In the heart of Brazil."
"In the heart of Brazil ... in the very heart of Brazil?... Oh, mon Dieu! mon Dieu!" (More laughter and a look of compassion at me.) "Mais nous avons une de nos maisons tout à fait près de là!" (Why, indeed, we have one of our factories quite close to there.)
It was then my turn for hearty laughter and the look of compassion.
"Pray," I inquired, "tell me more exactly. Where is your factory close to the heart of Brazil?"
"It is quite, quite close. It is in Montreal, Canada.... You will send your films there ... two or three days' journey.... It will take us a week to develop them ... two or three days for their return journey. In a fortnight you will have them back again."
Quite close, indeed: only a distance of some 65° of latitude--or some 7170 kilometres as the crow flies--with no direct communication by land or water!
That was the Frenchman's knowledge of geography; but I find that the average Englishman, unless he is directly interested in those countries, knows little better, and perhaps even less. Time after time I have been asked in London if Brazil were not a province of Mexico, and whether it is not through Brazil that the Americans are cutting the Panama Canal! There are many who have a vague idea that Brazil is a German colony; others, more patriotic, who claim it as an English possession. Many of those who have looked at the map of the world are under the impression that Spanish is spoken in Brazil, and are surprised when you tell them that Portuguese happens to be the local language. Others, more enlightened in their geography by that great play Charley's Aunt, imagine it a great forest of nut trees. Others, more enlightened still, believe it to be a land