Just below the point where the stream Capim Branco entered the S. Lourenço River (elev. 1,800 ft. above the sea level), there was a most beautiful waterfall—the Salto Floriano Peixoto. Two minor falls, some 30 ft. high (Salto Benjamin) were also to be seen under arches of luxuriant vegetation, just above the point of junction of the two streams.
The roaring and foaming volume of water of the greater fall rolled over a vertical volcanic rock, about 60 ft. high and 60 ft. wide, with a small terrace half way up its face. The bed of the river—below the fall—was, like all the torrents of that region, of strangely shaped lava blocks. With the dense foliage, the innumerable caité, a medicinal plant with huge leaves, the festooned liane and creepers—all most verdant in the sombre green light filtering through the foliage and the moisture of the abundant spray from the fall—it was indeed a magnificent sight. In order to see it, however, one had to suffer a great deal, because in forcing one's way through the dense vegetation one got literally covered with carrapatos and carrapatinhos.
Above the falls, for some hundreds of yards, there were terrific rapids in the river, which flowed over a steep bed of yellow lava in terraces, over steps and over a fourth minor fall some distance off.
DISTANCES FROM THE ARAGUAYA TO CAPIM BRANCO
| Kil. | Metres. | |
| Araguaya to Ponte Alto | 26 | 400 |
| Ponte Alto to Fogaça | 19 | 800 |
| Fogaça to Prata | 20 | |
| Prata to Ponte Queimada | 23 | 700 |
| Ponte Queimada to Bella Vista | 19 | 800 |
| Bella Vista to Agua Quente | 26 | 500 |
| Agua Quente to Barreiros | 10 | |
| Barreiros to Agua Emeindada | 16 | 500 |
| Agua Emeindada to Tachos | 29 | 700 |
| Tachos to Bugueirão | 20 | |
| Bugueirão to Paredãozinho | 20 | |
| Paredãozinho to Paredão Grande | 20 | |
| Paredão Grande to Cabeça de Boi | 33 | 100 |
| Cabeça de Boi to Sangrador | 33 | 100 |
| Sangrador to Sangradorzinho | 20 | |
| Sangradorzinho to Varzen Grande | 20 | |
| Varzen Grande to Lagõa Secca | 23 | |
| Lagõa Secca to Caxoerinha | 26 | 500 |
| Caxoerinha to Ponte de Pedra | 10 | |
| Ponte de Pedra to Lagõa Formosa | 20 | |
| Lagõa Formosa to Xico Nunes | 20 | |
| Xico Nunes to Sapaturo | 16 | 500 |
| Sapaturo to Presidente | 17 | |
| Presidente to Capim Branco | 14 | 850 |
| Total | 509 | 450 |
|---|
CHAPTER XXII
In Search of the Highest Point of the Brazilian Plateau—Mutiny—Great Domes—Travelling by Compass—A Gigantic Fissure in the Earth's Crust