As I was admiring the curious sight of these clusters of high vegetation absolutely surrounded by a wide band of lawn—such as one would see in a well-kept English park—a heavy and sudden storm arrived, which in a few seconds drenched us to the marrow of our bones. I have seldom seen or felt drops of water of such weight and size as when the rain began, followed within a few seconds by a downpour in bucketfuls.
Animals, baggage, and men, dripping all over, went along, rising to 2,400 ft. above the sea level, by the side of a conical hill. A huge block of volcanic rock—shot and deposited there evidently from elsewhere—was to be seen near by.
Eighteen kilometres from our last camp we descended to a streamlet, dividing a grassy basin like the preceding ones. Again I noticed here that all divisions between ranges—caused by volcanic or other violent action, and not by erosion—were in a direction from north to south. We had this in the Paredão Grande, and in the triple division of the top-dyked mountains on the south, and also in the gabled and tower mountains we had observed for some days to the south-west.
Again during the night I saw to the west the phenomenon of the previous evening repeated—the strange flashes directly under and occasionally to the left of the brilliant planet—that is to say to the right of the person observing it.
This was from Camp Areal, where we suffered terribly during the day from our friends the pium, which filled our eyes and ears and stung us all over; and at sunset from the polvora or polvorinha (or powder), so called because of their infinitesimal size—most persistent mosquitoes, so greedy that they preferred to be squashed rather than escape when they were sucking our blood on our hands and faces. Fortunately, during the night—with the cold (min. Fahr. 56°)—we had a little respite, and these brutes disappeared, only to return to their attack at sunrise with the warmth of the sun. At 9 a.m. the thermometer already registered a temperature of 95° Fahr. in the sun—a jump of 39°, which, notwithstanding mosquitoes and pium, my men greatly enjoyed.
The Paredão Grande, showing Vertical Rocks with Great Arches.
I have never seen men suffer more from the cold than my followers. They were simply paralyzed and frozen at that comparatively high temperature. They moaned and groaned and wept all night, although they slept in their clothes and were tightly wrapped up in heavy blankets. Moreover, they had spread a heavy waterproof double tent over the lot of them, as they lay closely packed to one another, covering heads and all, and had arranged a blazing fire enough to roast an ox quite close to them.
Personally, I was quite happy under a mere shelter tent—open for precaution on all sides, owing to preceding experiences, so that I could see what was going on all around without getting up from my camp bed. I only had a mere thin camel-hair blanket over me. I never slept in my clothes, preferring the comfort of ample silk pyjamas. In the morning I always indulged in my cold shower bath, two large buckets of water being poured by Alcides upon my head and back, amid the shivering yells of my trembling companions, who, at a distance, watched the operation, wrapped up to such an extent that merely their eyes were exposed.