Dos & don’ts

Sleep in a hammock. Keeping off the forest floor at night is the only way to avoid being eaten alive by insects.

Wear thick clothing. Although the heat can be fierce, the spiny vegetation of the barren hinterland is even worse. Leather chaps and jackets are a must.

Bring trinkets and cloth.

If you aren’t a hardened survivalist, trading with friendly tribes is your best chance of getting food outside the coastal towns.

Cover your mouth when you sneeze.

Indigenous tribes have no resistance to European diseases and tens of thousands will die in smallpox and influenza epidemics.

Mistake the phrase ‘drogas de sertão’ for narcotics. Bandeirantes use this term, meaning ’wilderness drugs,’ to cover many herbs and plants including Brazil nuts, cocoa, guarana and cloves.

Worry about the

1494 Treaty of Tordesillas. The boundary between the Spanish and Portuguese empires in South America will be redrawn in 1750 anyway, thanks to the bandeirantes.

Be surprised to see Tupi in the bandeiras.

Most of the expedition workforce is made up of indigenous people, employed or owned by the white bandeirantes.

Be fooled by dancing slaves. They may be practicing capoeira, a martial art that is disguised as a dance, to avoid suspicion.