rifice, love and devotion performed by the friars in those remote
regions.

In the colony at Tachos, situated on a height, there were several neat
buildings for the friars and a village for the Indians. What interested
me most was to see how much of the land around had been converted with
success to agricultural purposes. I inspected the buildings where useful
trades were taught to the Indians of both sexes. Weaving-looms and
spinning-wheels had been imported at great expense and endless trouble,
as well as blacksmiths' and carpenters' tools of all kinds. A
delightfully neat garden with European flowers was indeed a great joy to
one's eyes, now unaccustomed to so gay and tidy a sight. What pleased me
most of all was to notice how devoted to the Salesians the Indians were,
and how happy and well cared for they seemed to be. They had the most
humble reverence for the Fathers.

Padre Antonio Colbacchini, the Father Superior, an Italian, was an
extremely intelligent and practical man, one of the hardest workers I
have ever met. With a great love for science he had established a small
observatory on a high hill at a considerable distance from the mission
buildings. The abnegation with which Father Clemente Dorozeski, in charge
of the instruments, would get up in the middle of the night and in all
weathers go and watch for the minimum temperature--their instruments were
primitive, and they did not possess self-registering thermometers--was
indeed more than praiseworthy.

My readers can easily imagine my surprise when one day Padre Colbacchini
treated me, after dinner, to an orchestral concert of such operas as _Il
Trovatore_, _Aida_, and the _Barbiere di Seviglia_, played on brass and
stringed instruments by Indian boys. The Bororos showed great fondness
for music, and readily learned to play any tune without knowing a single
note of music. Naturally great patience was required on the part of the
teacher in order to obtain a collective melody which would not seriously
impair the drum of one's ear. The result was truly marvellous. Brass
instruments were preferred by the Indians. The trombone was the most
loved of all. As the Indians all possessed powerful lungs, they were well
suited for wind instruments.

The colony was situated in one of the most picturesque spots of Matto
Grosso. When out for a walk I came upon a great natural wall of rock with
immense spurs of lava, the surface of which was cut up into regular
geometri