Realizing the importance of obtaining the good-will of the wild folk of whose existence in the surrounding forest there was such abundant evidence, the Brazilian Government had erected a number of small bamboo and palm-leaf sheds various distances apart, near some of the more recently used trails that led from the water into the dark jungle. Under each rough shelter a bench, made of long poles laid across sticks driven into the ground, had been built. It was the custom of the officials in going up or down the river to stop at each of these stations and place beads, knives, and trinkets on the benches as a peace-offering to the Indians; but so reticent had been the latter that not one of the articles had hitherto been touched. Great was our surprise and joy to find that all the precious offerings had been removed, and that the Indians themselves had left a number of tokens of friendship in return. They were arrows six feet long, beautifully adorned with the bright-colored feathers of trogons, toucans, and other birds; parcels of Brazil nuts neatly done up in leaves; a few ears of maize, a feather head-dress, and a small pottery bowl. We collected all these treasures and left many more presents in exchange. As we neared one of the last stations the sound of loud hallooing came from the forest on our right. We swung the great _batelão_ toward the shore. We landed, but no sooner had we climbed to the top of the steep bank than we realized how cleverly had been arranged the plan by the Indians to effect a meeting with the mysterious strangers who were passing through their country. Following a wide path that led into the dense forest for a distance of twenty yards, we suddenly came upon a small, swift stream that sped through a dark tunnel-like opening under the dense canopy of leaves and branches. As we stared in blank amazement into the impenetrable tangle of vegetation on the other side of the stream, there emerged from the forest four nude, bronze figures, gesticulating wildly and chattering in a strange jargon which, of course, we could not understand; they were of good build, though inferior in physique to the Nhambiquaras we had seen on the _chapadão_, and not over five feet tall, with long, straight hair, and, remarkable though it is, the tangled hair of two of them was of a decided auburn color. Their bodies were plentifully besmeared with dark-bluish paint, applied in queer zigzag designs and giving a grotesque effect. No wilder scene can be imagined than the quartet of naked, trembling savages faintly outlined against the dim background of merging shadows and sombre green; somehow they seemed to fit into the picture and to complete the impression of primality conveyed by the vast wilderness of the Brazilian hinterland. Our captain held up bunches of bright-red beads and started to wade into the stream toward them, but they immediately withdrew into the thick cover, so he came back. A moment