I must confess that, although I tried hard to discover a way by which labour could be obtained and retained in Brazil with the existing laws, I could not find one practicable except that used by the Brazilians, viz. slavery.
The people of Diamantino tried hard to induce one or two men to accompany me—and I was willing to buy them out and eventually would have set them free altogether at the end of the expedition—but they were all so terrified of the Indians if they left the "city" that they preferred to remain slaves.
Alcides had gone round to look for a barber. There was only one in Diamantino, and he was in prison for the murder of his wife, or for some other such trifling matter. Armed with a pair of my scissors, Alcides went to the prison to have his hair cut. Once there he took the opportunity to explain to the prisoner that it could be arranged to procure his escape if he were willing to join the expedition. The barber—who had not inquired which way we should be travelling—jumped at the idea. This necessitated having my hair cut too—rather a trial with scissors that did not cut—in order to arrange matters further in detail. With a special permission from the local authorities the barber was let out accompanied by two policemen—the only two in the place—in order that he might reduce my hair by half its length or more.
While I underwent actual torture in having my hair clipped—as the prisoner's hands were trembling with excitement, and my ears had various narrow escapes—Alcides, who, when he wished, had very persuasive manners, induced not only the prisoner, but the two policemen—all three—to escape and join the expedition. I must say that I did not at all look forward to the prospect of my three new companions; but we were in terrible want of hands. I had visions that my expedition would be entirely wrecked. There was a limit to human endurance and we could not perform miracles. We still had thousands of kilometres to travel over most difficult and dangerous country. Besides, I reflected, after all, I might only be performing an act of kindness by relieving the town of the expense and trouble of keeping its only prisoner, not to speak of the police force.
All was satisfactorily arranged, when the prisoner inquired where we were going. You should have seen his face when I told him.
"No, no, no!" he quickly replied. "No, no, no, no!" and he waved my scissors in the air. "I will not come! I will remain in prison all my life rather than be eaten up by cannibals! No, no, no, no ... no, no, no, no...!" he went on muttering at intervals as he gave the last clipping touches to my hair. He hastened through his job, received his pay in silence, and asked the policemen to take him back quickly to the prison. When the chains, which had temporarily been removed, were put again around his wrists, he departed shaking his head and muttering again—"No, no, no, no...!"
The wise policemen, too, said that naturally, as their prisoner would not escape, they were obliged to remain and keep guard over him ... it was not through lack of courage that they would not come; it was because of their duty!
Of course, Alcides was sadly disappointed, but I was delighted, when it all fell through.
I owe the success of my expeditions to the fact that, no matter what happens, I never will stop anywhere. It is quite fatal, on expeditions of that kind, to stop for any length of time. If you do, the fatigue, the worry, and illness make it generally impossible to start again—all things which you do not feel quite so much as long as you can keep moving. Many a disaster in exploring expeditions could easily have been avoided, had the people known this secret of successful travelling. Push on at all costs—until, of course, you are actually dead.
With my reduced party of two men (Alcides and Filippe) I had to arrange matters differently, and decided to abandon part of my baggage—all things, in fact, which were not absolutely necessary, taking only food, instruments for scientific observations, cameras and photographic plates.