I was so far recuperated by this time that I thought of returning to civilisation, and I, accordingly, broached the subject to the Chief, who answered me very kindly, promising that he would send me by the next full-moon, with some of the wourahli men, down to the Branco River, and from there they would guide me within a safe distance of the rubber-estate, situated at the junction with the Itecoahy.

One day I was informed that a friendly call on a neighbouring tribe was being contemplated and that I could accompany the Chief and his men.

At last the time arrived and the expedition was organised.  I was not absolutely sure how I would be treated by these up-stream Indians, and I am almost ashamed to confess that, in spite of all the faithful, unswerving friendship which the Mangeromas had shown me, I had it in my mind that these other Indians might harm me, so black was the name that people down at the settlements had given them.

Until this time, as related above, I had thought best not to exhibit the character of my automatic pistol, and I had never used it here, but before I started on this journey I decided to give them an example of its power, and possibly awe them.  Inviting the Chief and all the tribe to witness my experiment, I explained to them that this little weapon would make a great noise and bore a hole through a thick tree.  The Chief examined it gingerly after I had locked the trigger mechanism.  He had heard of such arms, he said, but thought that they were much larger and heavier.  This one, he thought, must be a baby and he was inclined to doubt its power.

Selecting an “assai” palm of about nine inches diameter, across the creek, I took steady aim and fired four bullets.  Three of the bullets went through the same hole and the fourth pierced the trunk of the palm about two inches higher.  The Chief and his men hurried across the creek and examined the holes which caused then to discuss the affair for more than an hour.  The empty shells which had been ejected from the magazine were picked up by two young girls who fastened them in their ears with wire-like fibres, whereupon a dozen other women surrounded me, beseeching me to give them also cartridge-shells.  I discharged more than a dozen bullets, to please these children of the forest, who were as completely the slaves of fashion as are their sisters of more civilised lands.

Early the next morning we started up the river.  In one canoe the Chief and I sat on jaguar skins, while two men paddled.  In another canoe were four men armed with bows and arrows and blow-guns, and a fifth who acted in the capacity of “Wireless Operator.”  The system of signalling which he employed was by far the most ingenious device I saw while in Brazil, and considering their resources and their low state of culture the affair was little short of marvellous.