“No objection at all,” replied the stranger. “My name is Torres.”
When the hair was cut in the latest style Fragoso began to thin his
beard, but at this moment, as he was looking straight into his face, he
stopped, then began again, and then:
“Eh! Mr. Torres,” said he; “I seem to know you. We must have seen each
other somewhere?”
“I do not think so,” quickly answered Torres.
“I am always wrong!” replied Fragoso, and he hurried on to finish his
task.
A moment after Torres continued the conversation which this question of
Fragoso had interrupted, with:
“How did you come from Iquitos?”
“From Iquitos to Tabatinga?”
“Yes.”
“On board a raft, on which I was given a passage by a worthy fazender
who is going down the Amazon with his family.”
“A friend indeed!” replied Torres. “That is a chance, and if your
fazender would take me----”
“Do you intend, then, to go down the river?”
“Precisely.”
“Into Para?”
“No, only to Manaos, where I have business.”
“Well, my host is very kind, and I think he would cheerfully oblige
you.”
“Do you think so?”
“I might almost say I am sure.”
“And what is the name of this fazender?” asked Torres carelessly.
“Joam Garral,” answered Fragoso.
And at the same time he muttered to himself:
“I certainly have seen this fellow somewhere!”
Torres was not the man to allow a conversation to drop which was likely
to interest him, and for very good reasons.
“And so you think Joam Garral would give me a passage?”
“I do not doubt it,” replied Fragoso. “What he would do for a poor chap
like me he would not refuse to do for a compatriot like you.”
“Is he alone on board the jangada?”
“No,” replied Fragoso. “I was going to tell you that he is traveling
with all his family--and jolly people they are, I assure you. He is
accompanied by a crew of Indians and negroes, who form part of the staff
at the fazenda.”
“Is he rich?”
“Oh, certainly!” answered Fragoso--“very rich. Even the timber which
forms the jangada, and the cargo it carries, constitute a fortune!”
“The Joam Garral and his whole family have just passed the Brazilian
frontier?”
“Yes,” said Fragoso; “his wife, his son, his daughter, and Miss Minha’s
betrothed.”
“Ah! he has a daughter?” said Torres.
“A charming girl!”
“Going to get married?”
“Yes, to a brave young fellow,” replied Fragoso--“an army surgeon in
garrison at Belem, and the wedding is to take place as soon as we get to
the end of the voyage.”
“Good!” said the smiling Torres; “it is what you might call a betrothal
journey.”
“A voyage of betrothal, of pleasure, and of business!” said Fragoso.
“Madame Yaquita and her daughter have never set foot on Brazilian
ground; and as for Joam Garral, it is the first time he has crossed the
frontier since he went to the farm of old Magalhaës.”
“I suppose,” asked Torres, “that there are some servants with the
family?”
“Of course,” replied Fragoso--“old Cybele, on the farm for the last
fifty years, and a pretty mulatto, Miss Lina, who is more of a companion
than a servant to her mistress. Ah, what an amiable disposition! What
a heart, and what eyes! And the ideas she has about everything,
particularly about lianas--” Fragoso, started on this subject, would not
have been able to stop himself, and Lina would have been the object of
a good many enthusiastic declarations, had Torres not quitted the chair
for another customer.
“What do I owe you?” asked he of the barber.
“Nothing,” answered Fragoso. “Between compatriots, when they meet on the
frontier, there can be no question of that sort.”
“But,” replied Torres, “I want to----”
“Very well, we will settle that later on, on board the jangada.”
“But I do not know that, and I do not like to ask Joam Garral to allow
me----”
“Do not hesitate!” exclaimed Fragoso; “I will speak to him if you would
like it better, and he will be very happy to be of use to you under the
circumstances.”
And at that instant Manoel and Benito, coming into the town after
dinner, appeared at the door of the loja, wishing to see Fragoso at
work.
Torres turned toward them and suddenly said: “There are two gentlemen I
know--or rather I remember.”
“You remember them!” asked Fragoso, surprised.
“Yes, undoubtedly! A month ago, in the forest of Iquitos, they got me
out of a considerable difficulty.”
“But they are Benito Garral and Manoel Valdez.”
“I know. They told me their names, but I never expected to see them
here.”
Torres advanced toward the two young men, who looked at him without
recognizing him.
“You do not remember me, gentlemen?” he asked.
“Wait a little,” answered Benito; “Mr. Torres, if I remember aright;
it was you who, in the forest of Iquitos, got into difficulties with a
guariba?”
“Quite true, gentlemen,” replied Torres. “For six weeks I have been
traveling down the Amazon, and I have just crossed the frontier at the
same time as you have.”
“Very pleased to see you again,” said Benito; “but you have not
forgotten that you promised to come to the fazenda to my father?”
“I have not forgotten it,” answered Torres.
“And you would have done better to have accepted my offer; it would have
allowed you to have waited for our departure, rested from you fatigues,
and descended with us to the frontier; so many days of walking saved.”
“To be sure!” answered Torres.
“Our compatriot is not going to stop at the frontier,” said Fragoso, “he
is going on to Manaos.”
“Well, then,” replied Benito, “if you will come on board the jangada you
will be well received, and I am sure my father will give you a passage.”
“Willingly,” said Torres; “and you will allow me to thank you in
advance.”
Manoel took no part in the conversation; he let Benito make the offer
of his services, and attentively watched Torres, whose face he scarcely
remembered. There was an entire want of frankness in the eyes, whose
look changed unceasingly, as if he was afraid to fix them anywhere.
But Manoel kept this impression to himself, not wishing to injure a
compatriot whom they were about to oblige.
“Gentlemen,” said Torres, “if you like, I am ready to follow you to the
landing-place.”
“Come, then,” answered Benito.
A quarter of an hour afterward Torres was on board the jangada. Benito
introduced him to Joam Garral, acquainting him with the circumstances
under which they had previously met him, and asked him to give him a
passage down to Manaos.
“I am happy, sir, to be able to oblige you,” replied Joam.
“Thank you,” said Torres, who at the moment of putting forth his hand
kept it back in spite of himself.
“We shall be off at daybreak to-morrow,” added Joam Garral, “so you had
better get your things on board.”
“Oh, that will not take me long!” answered Torres; “there is only myself
and nothing else!”
“Make yourself at home,” said Joam Garral.
That evening Torres took possession of a cabin near to that of the
barber. It was not till eight o’clock that the latter returned to
the raft, and gave the young mulatto an account of his exploits, and
repeated, with no little vanity, that the renown of the illustrious
Fragoso was increasing in the basin of the Upper Amazon.
CHAPTER XIV. STILL DESCENDING
AT DAYBREAK on the morrow, the 27th of June, the cables were cast off,
and the raft continued its journey down the river.
An extra passenger was on board. Whence came this Torres? No one exactly
knew. Where was he going to? “To Manaos,” he said. Torres was careful to
let no suspicion of his past life escape him, nor of the profession that
he had followed till within the last two months, and no one would have
thought that the jangada had given refuge to an old captain of the
woods. Joam Garral did not wish to mar the service he was rendering by
questions of too pressing a nature.
In taking him on board the fazender had obeyed a sentiment of humanity.
In the midst of these vast Amazonian deserts, more especially at the
time when the steamers had not begun to furrow the waters, it was very
difficult to find means of safe and rapid transit. Boats did not ply
regularly, and in most cases the traveler was obliged to walk across
the forests. This is what Torres had done, and what he would continue to
have done, and it was for him unexpected good luck to have got a passage
on the raft.
From the moment that Benito had explained under what conditions he had
met Torres the introduction was complete, and he was able to consider
himself as a passenger on an Atlantic steamer, who is free to take part
in the general life if he cares, or free to keep himself a little apart
if of an unsociable disposition.
It was noticed, at least during the first few days, that Torres did not
try to become intimate with the Garral family. He maintained a good deal
of reserve, answering if addressed, but never provoking a reply.
If he appeared more open with any one, it was with Fragoso. Did he not
owe to this gay companion the idea of taking passage on board the raft?
Many times he asked him about the position of the Garrals at Iquitos,
the sentiments of the daughter for Manoel Valdez, and always discreetly.
Generally, when he was not walking alone in the bow of the jangada, he
kept to his cabin.
He breakfasted and dined with Joam Garral and his family, but he took
little part in their conversation, and retired when the repast was
finished.
During the morning the raft passed by the picturesque group of islands
situated in the vast estuary of the Javary. This important affluent of
the Amazon comes from the southwest, and from source to mouth has not
a single island, nor a single rapid, to check its course. The mouth is
about three thousand feet in width, and the river comes in some miles
above the site formerly occupied by the town of the same name, whose
possession was disputed for so long by Spaniards and Portuguese.
Up to the morning of the 30th of June there had been nothing particular
to distinguish the voyage. Occasionally they met a few vessels gliding
along by the banks attached one to another in such a way that a single
Indian could manage the whole---“navigar de bubina,”- as this kind
of navigation is called by the people of the country, that is to say,
“confidence navigation.”
They had passed the island of Araria, the Archipelago of the Calderon
islands, the island of Capiatu, and many others whose names have not yet
come to the knowledge of geographers.
On the 30th of June the pilot signaled on the right the little village
of Jurupari-Tapera, where they halted for two or three hours.
Manoel and Benito had gone shooting in the neighborhood, and brought
back some feathered game, which was well received in the larder. At the
same time they had got an animal of whom a naturalist would have made
more than did the cook.
It was a creature of a dark color, something like a large Newfoundland
dog.
“A great ant-eater!” exclaimed Benito, as he threw it on the deck of the
jangada.
“And a magnificent specimen which would not disgrace the collection of a
museum!” added Manoel.
“Did you take much trouble to catch the curious animal?” asked Minha.
“Yes, little sister,” replied Benito, “and you were not there to ask
for mercy! These dogs die hard, and no less than three bullets were
necessary to bring this fellow down.”
The ant-eater looked superb, with his long tail and grizzly hair; with
his pointed snout, which is plunged into the ant-hills whose insects
form its principal food; and his long, thin paws, armed with sharp
nails, five inches long, and which can shut up like the fingers of one’s
hand. But what a hand was this hand of the ant-eater! When it has got
hold of anything you have to cut it off to make it let go! It is of this
hand that the traveler, Emile Carrey, has so justly observed: “The tiger
himself would perish in its grasp.”
On the 2d of July, in the morning, the jangada arrived at the foot of
San Pablo d’Olivença, after having floated through the midst of numerous
islands which in all seasons are clad with verdure and shaded with
magnificent trees, and the chief of which bear the names of Jurupari,
Rita, Maracanatena, and Cururu Sapo. Many times they passed by the
mouths of iguarapes, or little affluents, with black waters.
The coloration of these waters is a very curious phenomenon. It is
peculiar to a certain number of these tributaries of the Amazon, which
differ greatly in importance.
Manoel remarked how thick the cloudiness was, for it could be clearly
seen on the surface of the whitish waters of the river.
“They have tried to explain this coloring in many ways,” said he, “but
I do not think the most learned have yet arrived at a satisfactory
explanation.”
“The waters are really black with a magnificent reflection of gold,”
replied Minha, showing a light, reddish-brown cloth, which was floating
level with the jangada.
“Yes,” said Manoel, “and Humboldt has already observed the curious
reflection that you have; but on looking at it attentively you will see
that it is rather the color of sepia which pervades the whole.”
“Good!” exclaimed Benito. “Another phenomenon on which the -savants- are
not agreed.”
“Perhaps,” said Fragoso, “they might ask the opinions of the caymans,
dolphins, and manatees, for they certainly prefer the black waters to
the others to enjoy themselves in.”
“They are particularly attractive to those animals,” replied Manoel,
“but why it is rather embarrassing to say. For instance, is the
coloration due to the hydrocarbons which the waters hold in solution, or
is it because they flow through districts of peat, coal, and anthracite;
or should we not rather attribute it to the enormous quantity of minute
plants which they bear along? There is nothing certain in the matter.
Under any circumstances, they are excellent to drink, of a freshness
quite enviable for the climate, and without after-taste, and perfectly
harmless. Take a little of the water, Minha, and drink it; you will find
it all right.”
The water is in truth limpid and fresh, and would advantageously replace
many of the table-waters used in Europe. They drew several frasques for
kitchen use.
It has been said that in the morning of the 2d of July the jangada had
arrived at San Pablo d’Olivença, where they turn out in thousands those
long strings of beads which are made from the scales of the -“coco de
piassaba.”- This trade is here extensively followed. It may, perhaps,
seem singular that the ancient lords of the country, Tupinambas and
Tupiniquis, should find their principal occupation in making objects
for the Catholic religion. But, after all, why not? These Indians are
no longer the Indians of days gone by. Instead of being clothed in the
national fashion, with a frontlet of macaw feathers, bow, and blow-tube,
have they not adopted the American costume of white cotton trousers, and
a cotton poncho woven by their wives, who have become thorough adepts in
its manufacture?
San Pablo d’Olivença, a town of some importance, has not less than
two thousand inhabitants, derived from all the neighboring tribes. At
present the capital of the Upper Amazon, it began as a simple Mission,
founded by the Portuguese Carmelites about 1692, and afterward acquired
by the Jesuit missionaries.
From the beginning it has been the country of the Omaguas, whose name
means “flat-heads,” and is derived from the barbarous custom of the
native mothers of squeezing the heads of their newborn children between
two plates, so as to give them an oblong skull, which was then the
fashion. Like everything else, that has changed; heads have re-taken
their natural form, and there is not the slightest trace of the ancient
deformity in the skulls of the chaplet-makers.
Every one, with the exception of Joam Garral, went ashore. Torres also
remained on board, and showed no desire to visit San Pablo d’Olivença,
which he did not, however, seem to be acquainted with.
Assuredly if the adventurer was taciturn he was not inquisitive.
Benito had no difficulty in doing a little bartering, and adding
slightly to the cargo of the jangada. He and the family received an
excellent reception from the principal authorities of the town, the
commandant of the place, and the chief of the custom-house, whose
functions did not in the least prevent them from engaging in trade. They
even intrusted the young merchant with a few products of the country for
him to dispose of on their account at Manaos and Belem.
The town is composed of some sixty houses, arranged on the plain which
hereabouts crowns the river-bank. Some of the huts are covered with
tiles--a very rare thing in these countries; but, on the other hand, the
humble church, dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul, has only a roof of
straw, rather more appropriate for a stable of Bethlehem than for an
edifice consecrated to religion in one of the most Catholic countries of
the world.
The commandant, his lieutenant, and the head of the police accepted
an invitation to dine with the family, and they were received by Joam
Garral with the respect due to their rank.
During dinner Torres showed himself more talkative than usual. He spoke
about some of his excursions into the interior of Brazil like a man
who knew the country. But in speaking of these travels Torres did not
neglect to ask the commandant if he knew Manaos, if his colleague would
be there at this time, and if the judge, the first magistrate of the
province, was accustomed to absent himself at this period of the hot
season. It seemed that in putting this series of questions Torres looked
at Joam Garral. It was marked enough for even Benito to notice it,
not without surprise, and he observed that his father gave particular
attention to the questions so curiously propounded by Torres.
The commandant of San Pablo d’Olivença assured the adventurer that the
authorities were not now absent from Manaos, and he even asked Joam
Garral to convey to them his compliments. In all probability the raft
would arrive before the town in seven weeks, or a little later, say
about the 20th or the 25th of August.
The guests of the fazender took leave of the Garral family toward the
evening, and the following morning, that of the 3d of July, the jangada
recommenced its descent of the river.
At noon they passed on the left the mouth of the Yacurupa. This
tributary, properly speaking, is a true canal, for it discharges its
waters into the Iça, which is itself an affluent of the Amazon.
A peculiar phenomenon, for the river displaces itself to feed its own
tributaries!
Toward three o’clock in the afternoon the giant raft passed the mouth
of the Jandiatuba, which brings its magnificent black waters from the
southwest, and discharges them into the main artery by a mouth of four
hundred meters in extent, after having watered the territories of the
Culino Indians.
A number of islands were breasted--Pimaicaira, Caturia, Chico,
Motachina; some inhabited, others deserted, but all covered with superb
vegetation, which forms an unbroken garland of green from one end of the
Amazon to the other.
CHAPTER XV. THE CONTINUED DESCENT
ON THE EVENING of the 5th of July, the atmosphere had been oppressive
since the morning and threatened approaching storms. Large bats of ruddy
color skimmed with their huge wings the current of the Amazon. Among
them could be distinguished the -“perros voladors,”- somber brown above
and light-colored beneath, for which Minha, and particularly the young
mulatto, felt an instinctive aversion.
These were, in fact, the horrible vampires which suck the blood of the
cattle, and even attack man if he is imprudent enough to sleep out in
the fields.
“Oh, the dreadful creatures!” cried Lina, hiding her eyes; “they fill me
with horror!”
“And they are really formidable,” added Minha; “are they not, Manoel?”
“To be sure--very formidable,” answered he. “These vampires have a
particular instinct which leads them to bleed you in the places where
the blood most easily comes, and principally behind the ear. During
the operation they continue to move their wings, and cause an agreeable
freshness which renders the sleep of the sleeper more profound. They
tell of people, unconsciously submitted to this hemorrhage for many
hours, who have never awoke!”
“Talk no more of things like that, Manoel,” said Yaquita, “or neither
Minha nor Lina will dare sleep to-night.”
“Never fear!” replied Manoel; “if necessary we will watch over them as
they sleep.”
“Silence!” said Benito.
“What is the matter?” asked Manoel.
“Do you not hear a very curious noise on that side?” continued Benito,
pointing to the right bank.
“Certainly,” answered Yaquita.
“What causes the noise?” asked Minha. “One would think it was shingle
rolling on the beach of the islands.”
“Good! I know what it is,” answered Benito. “Tomorrow, at daybreak,
there will be a rare treat for those who like fresh turtle eggs and
little turtles!”
He was not deceived; the noise was produced by innumerable chelonians of
all sizes, who were attracted to the islands to lay their eggs.
It is in the sand of the beach that these amphibians choose the most
convenient places to deposit their eggs. The operation commences with
sunset and finishes with the dawn.
At this moment the chief turtle had left the bed of the river to
reconnoiter for a favorable spot; the others, collected in thousands,
were soon after occupied in digging with their hind paddles a trench six
hundred feet long, a dozen wide, and six deep. After laying their eggs
they cover them with a bed of sand, which they beat down with their
carapaces as if they were rammers.
This egg-laying operation is a grand affair for the riverine Indians
of the Amazon and its tributaries. They watch for the arrival of the
chelonians, and proceed to the extraction of the eggs to the sound
of the drum; and the harvest is divided into three parts--one to the
watchers, another to the Indians, a third to the state, represented by
the captains of the shore, who, in their capacity of police, have to
superintend the collection of the dues. To certain beaches which the
decrease of the waters has left uncovered, and which have the privilege
of attracting the greater number of turtles, there has been given the
name of “royal beaches.” When the harvest is gathered it is a holiday
for the Indians, who give themselves up to games, dancing, and drinking;
and it is also a holiday for the alligators of the river, who hold high
revelry on the remains of the amphibians.
Turtles, or turtle eggs, are an object of very considerable trade
throughout the Amazonian basin. It is these chelonians whom they
“turn”--that is to say, put on their backs--when they come from laying
their eggs, and whom they preserve alive, keeping them in palisaded
pools like fish-pools, or attaching them to a stake by a cord just long
enough to allow them to go and come on the land or under the water. In
this way they always have the meat of these animals fresh.
They proceed differently with the little turtles which are just hatched.
There is no need to pack them or tie them up. Their shell is still soft,
their flesh extremely tender, and after they have cooked them they eat
them just like oysters. In this form large quantities are consumed.
However, this is not the most general use to which the chelonian eggs
are put in the provinces of Amazones and Para. The manufacture of
-“manteigna de tartaruga,”- or turtle butter, which will bear comparison
with the best products of Normandy or Brittany, does not take less every
year that from two hundred and fifty to three hundred millions of eggs.
But the turtles are innumerable all along the river, and they deposit
their eggs on the sands of the beach in incalculable quantities.
However, on account of the destruction caused not only by the natives,
but by the water-fowl from the side, the urubus in the air, and the
alligators in the river, their number has been so diminished that for
every little turtle a Brazilian pataque, or about a franc, has to be
paid.
On the morrow, at daybreak, Benito, Fragoso, and a few Indians took a
pirogue and landed on the beach of one of the large islands which they
had passed during the night. It was not necessary for the jangada to
halt. They knew they could catch her up.
On the shore they saw the little hillocks which indicated the places
where, that very night, each packet of eggs had been deposited in
the trench in groups of from one hundred and sixty to one hundred and
ninety. These there was no wish to get out. But an earlier laying had
taken place two months before, the eggs had hatched under the action
of the heat stored in the sand, and already several thousands of little
turtles were running about the beach.
The hunters were therefore in luck. The pirogue was filled with these
interesting amphibians, and they arrived just in time for breakfast. The
booty was divided between the passengers and crew of the jangada, and if
any lasted till the evening it did not last any longer.
In the morning of the 7th of July they were before San Jose de Matura,
a town situated near a small river filled up with long grass, and on the
borders of which a legend says that Indians with tails once existed.
In the morning of the 8th of July they caught sight of the village of
San Antonio, two or three little houses lost in the trees at the mouth
of the Iça, or Putumayo, which is about nine hundred meters wide.
The Putumayo is one of the most important affluents of the Amazon. Here
in the sixteenth century missions were founded by the Spaniards, which
were afterward destroyed by the Portuguese, and not a trace of them now
remains.
Representatives of different tribes of Indians are found in the
neighborhood, which are easily recognizable by the differences in their
tattoo marks.
The Iça is a body of water coming from the east of the Pasto Mountains
to the northeast of Quito, through the finest forests of wild
cacao-trees. Navigable for a distance of a hundred and forty leagues for
steamers of not greater draught than six feet, it may one day become one
of the chief waterways in the west of America.
The bad weather was at last met with. It did not show itself in
continual rains, but in frequent storms. These could not hinder the
progress of the raft, which offered little resistance to the wind. Its
great length rendered it almost insensible to the swell of the Amazon,
but during the torrential showers the Garral family had to keep indoors.
They had to occupy profitably these hours of leisure. They chatted
together, communicated their observations, and their tongues were seldom
idle.
It was under these circumstances that little by little Torres had begun
to take a more active part in the conversation. The details of his
many voyages throughout the whole north of Brazil afforded him numerous
subjects to talk about. The man had certainly seen a great deal, but
his observations were those of a skeptic, and he often shocked the
straightforward people who were listening to him. It should be said that
he showed himself much impressed toward Minha. But these attentions,
although they were displeasing to Manoel, were not sufficiently
marked for him to interfere. On the other hand, Minha felt for him an
instinctive repulsion which she was at no pains to conceal.
On the 5th of July the mouth of the Tunantins appeared on the left bank,
forming an estuary of some four hundred feet across, in which it pours
its blackish waters, coming from the west-northwest, after having
watered the territories of the Cacena Indians. At this spot the Amazon
appears under a truly grandiose aspect, but its course is more than ever
encumbered with islands and islets. It required all the address of the
pilot to steer through the archipelago, going from one bank to another,
avoiding the shallows, shirking the eddies, and maintaining the advance.
They might have taken the Ahuaty Parana, a sort of natural canal, which
goes off a little below the mouth of the Tunantins, and re-enters the
principal stream a hundred an twenty miles further on by the Rio Japura;
but if the larger portion of this measures a hundred and fifty feet
across, the narrowest is only sixty feet, and the raft would there have
met with a difficulty.
On the 13th of July, after having touched at the island of Capuro,
passed the mouth of the Jutahy, which, coming from the east-southeast,
brings in its black waters by a mouth five hundred feet wide,
and admired the legions of monkeys, sulphur-white in color, with
cinnabar-red faces, who are insatiable lovers of the nuts produced by
the palm-trees from which the river derives its name, the travelers
arrived on the 18th of July before the little village of Fonteboa.
At this place the jangada halted for twelve hours, so as to give a rest
to the crew.
Fonteboa, like most of the mission villages of the Amazon, has not
escaped the capricious fate which, during a lengthened period, moves
them about from one place to the other. Probably the hamlet has
now finished with its nomadic existence, and has definitely become
stationary. So much the better; for it is a charming place, with its
thirty houses covered with foliage, and its church dedicated to Notre
Dame de Guadaloupe, the Black Virgin of Mexico. Fonteboa has one
thousand inhabitants, drawn from the Indians on both banks, who rear
numerous cattle in the fields in the neighborhood. These occupations
do not end here, for they are intrepid hunters, or, if they prefer it,
intrepid fishers for the manatee.
On the morning of their arrival the young fellows assisted at a
very interesting expedition of this nature. Two of these herbivorous
cetaceans had just been signaled in the black waters of the Cayaratu,
which comes in at Fonteboa. Six brown points were seen moving along the
surface, and these were the two pointed snouts and four pinions of the
lamantins.
Inexperienced fishermen would at first have taken these moving points
for floating wreckage, but the natives of Fonteboa were not to be so
deceived. Besides, very soon loud blowings indicated that the spouting
animals were vigorously ejecting the air which had become useless for
their breathing purposes.
Two ubas, each carrying three fishermen, set off from the bank and
approached the manatees, who soon took flight. The black points at first
traced a long furrow on the top of the water, and then disappeared for a
time.
The fishermen continued their cautious advance. One of them, armed
with a very primitive harpoon--a long nail at the end of a stick--kept
himself in the bow of the boat, while the other two noiselessly paddled
on. They waited till the necessity of breathing would bring the manatees
up again. In ten minutes or thereabouts the animals would certainly
appear in a circle more or less confined.
In fact, this time had scarcely elapsed before the black points emerged
at a little distance, and two jets of air mingled with vapor were
noiselessly shot forth.
The ubas approached, the harpoons were thrown at the same instant; one
missed its mark, but the other struck one of the cetaceans near his
tail.
It was only necessary to stun the animal, who rarely defends himself
when touched by the iron of the harpoon. In a few pulls the cord brought
him alongside the uba, and he was towed to the beach at the foot of the
village.
It was not a manatee of any size, for it only measured about three feet
long. These poor cetaceans have been so hunted that they have become
very rare in the Amazon and its affluents, and so little time is left
them to grow that the giants of the species do not now exceed seven
feet. What are these, after manatees twelve and fifteen feet long, which
still abound in the rivers and lakes of Africa?
But it would be difficult to hinder their destruction. The flesh of
the manatee is excellent, superior even to that of pork, and the oil
furnished by its lard, which is three inches thick, is a product of
great value. When the meat is smoke-dried it keeps for a long time, and
is capital food. If to this is added that the animal is easily caught,
it is not to be wondered at that the species is on its way to complete
destruction.
On the 19th of July, at sunrise, the jangada left Fonteboa, and entered
between the two completely deserted banks of the river, and breasted
some islands shaded with the grand forests of cacao-trees. The sky was
heavily charged with electric cumuli, warning them of renewed storms.
The Rio Jurua, coming from the southwest, soon joins the river on
the left. A vessel can go up it into Peru without encountering
insurmountable obstacles among its white waters, which are fed by a
great number of petty affluents.
“It is perhaps in these parts,” said Manoel, “that we ought to look for
those female warriors who so much astonished Orellana. But we ought to
say that, like their predecessors, they do nor form separate tribes;
they are simply the wives who accompany their husbands to the fight, and
who, among the Juruas, have a great reputation for bravery.”
The jangada continued to descend; but what a labyrinth the Amazon now
appeared! The Rio Japura, whose mouth was forty-eight miles on ahead,
and which is one of its largest tributaries, runs almost parallel with
the river.
Between them were canals, iguarapes, lagoons, temporary lakes, an
inextricable network which renders the hydrography of this country so
difficult.
But if Araujo had no map to guide him, his experience served him more
surely, and it was wonderful to see him unraveling the chaos, without
ever turning aside from the main river.
In fact, he did so well that on the 25th of July, in the afternoon,
after having passed before the village of Parani-Tapera, the raft was
anchored at the entrance of the Lake of Ego, or Teffe, which it was
useless to enter, for they would not have been able to get out of it
again into the Amazon.
But the town of Ega is of some importance; it was worthy of a halt to
visit it. It was arranged, therefore, that the jangada should remain
on this spot till the 27th of July, and that on the morrow the large
pirogue should take the whole family to Ega. This would give a rest,
which was deservedly due to the hard-working crew of the raft.
The night passed at the moorings near a slightly rising shore, and
nothing disturbed the quiet. A little sheet-lightning was observable on
the horizon, but it came from a distant storm which did not reach the
entrance to the lake.
CHAPTER XVI. EGA
AT SIX o’clock in the morning of the 20th of July, Yaquita, Minha, Lina,
and the two young men prepared to leave the jangada.
Joam Garral, who had shown no intention of putting his foot on shore,
had decided this time, at the request of the ladies of his family, to
leave his absorbing daily work and accompany them on their excursion.
Torres had evinced no desire to visit Ega, to the great satisfaction of
Manoel, who had taken a great dislike to the man and only waited for an
opportunity to declare it.
As to Fragoso, he could not have the same reason for going to Ega as had
taken him to Tabatinga, which is a place of little importance compared
to this.
Ega is a chief town with fifteen hundred inhabitants, and in it reside
all those authorities which compose the administration of a considerable
city--considerable for the country; that is to say, the military
commandant, the chief of the police, the judges, the schoolmaster, and
troops under the command of officers of all ranks.
With so many functionaries living in a town, with their wives and
children, it is easy to see that hair-dressers would be in demand. Such
was the case, and Fragoso would not have paid his expenses.
Doubtless, however, the jolly fellow, who could do no business in Ega,
had thought to be of the party if Lina went with her mistress, but, just
as they were leaving the raft, he resolved to remain, at the request of
Lina herself.
“Mr. Fragoso!” she said to him, after taking him aside.
“Miss Lina?” answered Fragoso.
“I do not think that your friend Torres intends to go with us to Ega.”
“Certainly not, he is going to stay on board, Miss Lina, but you wold
oblige me by not calling him my friend!”
“But you undertook to ask a passage for him before he had shown any
intention of doing so.”
“Yes, and on that occasion, if you would like to know what I think, I
made a fool of myself!”
“Quite so! and if you would like to know what I think, I do not like the
man at all, Mr. Fragoso.”
“Neither do I, Miss Lina, and I have all the time an idea that I
have seen him somewhere before. But the remembrance is too vague; the
impression, however, is far from being a pleasant one!”
“Where and when could you have met him? Cannot you call it to mind? It
might be useful to know who he is and what he has been.”
“No--I try all I can. How long was it ago? In what country? Under what
circumstances? And I cannot hit upon it.”
“Mr. Fragoso!”
“Miss Lina!”
“Stay on board and keep watch on Torres during our absence!”
“What? Not go with you to Ega, and remain a whole day without seeing
you?”
“I ask you to do so!”
“Is it an order?”
“It is an entreaty!”
“I will remain!”
“Mr. Fragoso!”
“Miss Lina!”
“I thank you!”
“Thank me, then, with a good shake of the hand,” replied Fragoso; “that
is worth something.”
Lina held out her hand, and Fragoso kept it for a few moments while he
looked into her face. And that is the reason why he did not take his
place in the pirogue, and became, without appearing to be, the guard
upon Torres.
Did the latter notice the feelings of aversion with which he was
regarded? Perhaps, but doubtless he had his reasons for taking no
account of them.
A distance of four leagues separated the mooring-place from the town of
Ega. Eight leagues, there and back, in a pirogue containing six persons,
besides two negroes as rowers, would take some hours, not to mention the
fatigue caused by the high temperature, though the sky was veiled with
clouds.
Fortunately a lovely breeze blew from the northwest, and if it held
would be favorable for crossing Lake Teffe. They could go to Ega and
return rapidly without having to tack.
So the lateen sail was hoisted on the mast of the pirogue. Benito took
the tiller, and off they went, after a last gesture from Lina to Fragoso
to keep his eyes open.
The southern shore of the lake had to be followed to get to Ega.
After two hours the pirogue arrived at the port of this ancient mission
founded by the Carmelites, which became a town in 1759, and which
General Gama placed forever under Brazilian rule.
The passengers landed on a flat beach, on which were to be found not
only boats from the interior, but a few of those little schooners which
are used in the coasting-trade on the Atlantic seaboard.
When the two girls entered Ega they were at first much astonished.
“What a large town!” said Minha.
“What houses! what people!” replied Lina, whose eyes seemed to have
expanded so that she might see better.
“Rather!” said Benito laughingly. “More than fifteen hundred
inhabitants! Two hundred houses at the very least! Some of them with a
first floor! And two or three streets! Genuine streets!”
“My dear Manoel!” said Minha, “do protect us against my brother! He is
making fun of us, and only because he had already been in the finest
towns in Amazones and Para!”
“Quite so, and he is also poking fun at his mother,” added Yaquita, “for
I confess I never saw anything equal to this!”
“Then, mother and sister, you must take great care that you do not fall
into a trance when you get to Manaos, and vanish altogether when you
reach Belem!”
“Never fear,” answered Manoel; “the ladies will have been gently
prepared for these grand wonders by visiting the principal cities of the
Upper Amazon!”
“Now, Manoel,” said Minha, “you are talking just like my brother! Are
you making fun of us, too?”
“No, Minha, I assure you.”
“Laugh on, gentlemen,” said Lina, “and let us look around, my dear
mistress, for it is very fine!”
Very fine! A collection of houses, built of mud, whitewashed, and
principally covered with thatch or palm-leaves; a few built of stone
or wood, with verandas, doors, and shutters painted a bright green,
standing in the middle of a small orchard of orange-trees in flower.
But there were two or three public buildings, a barrack, and a church
dedicated to St. Theresa, which was a cathedral by the side of the
modest chapel at Iquitos. On looking toward the lake a beautiful
panorama unfolded itself, bordered by a frame of cocoanut-trees and
assais, which ended at the edge of the liquid level, and showed beyond
the picturesque village of Noqueira, with its few small houses lost in
the mass of the old olive-trees on the beach.
But for the two girls there was another cause of wonderment, quite
feminine wonderment too, in the fashions of the fair Egans, not the
primitive costume of the natives, converted Omaas or Muas, but the
dress of true Brazilian ladies. The wives and daughters of the principal
functionaries and merchants of the town pretentiously showed off their
Parisian toilettes, a little out of date perhaps, for Ega is five
hundred leagues away from Para, and this is itself many thousands of
miles from Paris.
“Just look at those fine ladies in their fine clothes!”
“Lina will go mad!” exclaimed Benito.
“If those dresses were worn properly,” said Minha, “they might not be so
ridiculous!”
“My dear Minha,” said Manoel, “with your simple gown and straw hat, you
are better dressed than any one of these Brazilians, with their headgear
and flying petticoats, which are foreign to their country and their
race.”
“If it pleases you to think so,” answered Minha, “I do not envy any of
them.”
But they had come to see. They walked through the streets, which
contained more stalls than shops; they strolled about the market-place,
the rendezvous of the fashionable, who were nearly stifled in their
European clothes; they even breakfasted at an hotel--it was scarcely an
inn--whose cookery caused them to deeply regret the excellent service on
the raft.
After dinner, at which only turtle flesh, served up in different forms,
appeared, the Garral family went for the last time to admire the borders
of the lake as the setting sun gilded it with its rays; then they
rejoined their pirogue, somewhat disillusioned perhaps as to the
magnificence of a town which one hour would give time enough to visit,
and a little tired with walking about its stifling streets which were
not nearly so pleasant as the shady pathways of Iquitos. The inquisitive
Lina’s enthusiasm alone had not been damped.
They all took their places in the pirogue. The wind remained in the
northwest, and had freshened with the evening. The sail was hoisted.
They took the same course as in the morning, across the lake fed by
the black waters of the Rio Teffe, which, according to the Indians, is
navigable toward the southwest for forty days’ journey. At eight o’clock
the pirogue regained the mooring-place and hailed the jangada.
As soon as Lina could get Fragoso aside--
“Have you seen anything suspicious?” she inquired.
“Nothing, Miss Lina,” he replied; “Torres has scarcely left his cabin,
where he has been reading and writing.”
“He did not get into the house or the dining-room, as I feared?”
“No, all the time he was not in his cabin he was in the bow of the
raft.”
“And what was he doing?”
“Holding an old piece of paper in his hand, consulting it with great
attention, and muttering a lot of incomprehensible words.”
“All that is not so unimportant as you think, Mr. Fragoso. These
readings and writings and old papers have their interest! He is neither
a professor nor a lawyer, this reader and writer!”
“You are right!”
“Still watch him, Mr. Fragoso!”
“I will watch him always, Miss Lina,” replied Fragoso.
On the morrow, the 27th of July, at daybreak, Benito gave the pilot the
signal to start.
Away between the islands, in the Bay of Arenapo, the mouth of the
Japura, six thousand six hundred feet wide, was seen for an instant.
This large tributary comes into the Amazon through eight mouths, as if
it were pouring into some gulf or ocean. But its waters come from afar,
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