On the following morning we advanced again, took water in skins near to some cottages, and at noon stationed ourselves in the bed of a rivulet, where there was good grass, but no water. As the bed was lower than the neighbouring land the very first shower had made the grass spring up, though there had not been rain sufficient to excite vegetation upon its banks. Here the armadillo strayed into some brushwood; Feliciano followed it by the marks of its footsteps over the grass and dry leaves, and brought it back. I am quite confident that he did not see which way it went, and to a person unused to tracing footsteps there appeared to be none. If it had passed over sand, there would not have been any thing extraordinary in discovering the way which the animal had taken, but upon grass and dry leaves so small an animal could make but a most trifling impression. I mentioned at this place accidentally that the skins had spoiled the water, for it tasted of the grease with which they had been rubbed. Feliciano heard me, and took up a small skin that lay empty, which was old and therefore not greasy, and said, “I’ll try to find some for you that is better;” and away he went. In about an hour he returned with the skin full of excellent water. He had recollected a cleft in a rock at some distance, and had gone to see if any yet remained in it. We slept at a _fazenda_, and the next day proceeded in the expectation of reaching the Searà-meirim, which we did. This track of country had not recovered from the drought, but the trees were beginning to be cloathed, and the grass under them was in most parts of sufficient length to afford subsistence to our horses. Water was still scarce and bad, but the rain had made it less brackish and more plentiful. We passed over the _travessia_ with all possible haste, as the floods were expected shortly, and sometimes the water comes down, as I have before stated, with great rapidity. There is some danger in being caught by the water upon any of the peninsulas or islands which are formed by its bends, for to be under the necessity of crossing over a stream which runs with much violence, perhaps ten times or more successively, would be too much for almost any horse to bear, and particularly for those which were already fatigued by a long journey. We left the Searà-meirim in four days, passed Pai Paulo, and early on the fifth day arrived again at the dry lake. The people of this place were upon the point of decamping, as the rains were expected or rather had already commenced. We now met several parties of travellers, who had taken advantage of the first rains to pass over this track of country, and who were hastening before the floods came down the river.