Evening capital news. (Boise, Idaho) 1901-1927, 1914-08-30


Tropical House Party.
On the morning of the 18th we reached
the home buildings of the great Sac Joao
fazenda the ranch OF Senior Joao da Costa
Marques Our host himself, and his son,
Doutor Joao the younger, who was state
secretary of agriculture, and the latter's
charming wife, and the president of Matte
Crosse, and several other ladies and gentle
men, had come down the river to greet us
from the city of Cuyaba, several hundred
miles farther up stream.
AS usual, we were> treated with whole
hearted and generous hospitality Some
miles below the ranch house the party met
us, on a stern-whee steamboat and launch,
both decked with many flags. The hand
some white ranch house stood only few
rods back from the rivers brink, in grassy
opening, dotted with those noble trees, the
royal palms. Other trees, buildings of all
kinds, flower gardens, vegetable gardens,
fields, corrals, and Enclosures with high
white walls stood near the house
A detachment OF soldiers or state police,
with band, were in front of the house, and
two flagpoles, one with the Brazilian flag
already hoisted The American flag was
run up on the other as I stepped ashore,
while the band played the national anthems
OF the two countries The house held much
comfort and the comfort was all the more
appreciated because even indoors the Their
mometer stood at 107 degrees Fahrenheit
In the late afternoon heavy rain fell and
cooled the air. We were riding at the time.
Around the house the birds were tame the
parrots and paraquets crowded and chat
tered in the tree tops; jacanas played in the
wet grounds just back Of the garden; ibises
and screamers calico loudly in the swamps a
little distance Off
Until we came actually in sight of this
great ranch house we had been passing
through hot, fertile, pleasant wilderness,
where the few small palm-roofed houses,
each in its little patch of sugar-cane, corn,
and mandoc stood very many miles apart.
Signs of Indian Occupation.
One of these little houses stood on an old
Indian mound, exactly like the mounds
which form the only hllocks along the low
er Mississippi, and which are also of Indian
origin. These occasional Indian mounds,
made ages ago, are the highest bits of
ground in the immense swamps of the upper
Paraguay region.
There are still Indian tribes in this neigh
borhood We passed an Indian fishing vii
lage on the edge OF the river, with huts scat
foldings for drying the fish, hammocks, and
rude tables. They cultivated patches of ba-
nanas and sugar cane. Out in a shallow
place in the river was scaffolding on which
the Indians stood to spear fish. The Indians
were friendly peaceable souls, for the most
part dressed like the poorer classes among
the Brazlians
Next morning there was to have been
great rodeo, or roundup, and we deter
mined to have hunt first, as there were
still several kinds of beasts of the chase, no
tably taprs and peccaries, of which the nat
uraists desired specimens
Doutor Joao, our host and his son ac-
companied u.s. Theirs is a noteworthy fam
lily. Born in Matto Crosse, in the tropics,
our host had the look of northerner and
although a grandfather, he possessed an
Astounding vigor and energy such as very
few men of any climate or surroundings do
possess. All of his sons are doing we'll. The
son who was with us was a talwart, power
full man, a delightful companion, an able
public servant, finished horseman, and
skilled hunter, fondest OF that highest kind
of spirit in which the man must trust to his
own nerve and prowess to overcome serious
danger He carried a sharp spear, not a
rifle, for in Matte Crosse it is the custom in
hunting the jaguar for riflemen and spear
men to go in at him together when he turns
at bay, the spearman holding him off if the
first shot fails to stop him, so that another