Jules Verne ...............................................................................................................................................1

PART I. THE GIANT RAFT ..................................................................................................................2

CHAPTER I. A CAPTAIN OF THE WOODS.......................................................................................2

CHAPTER II. ROBBER AND ROBBED ..............................................................................................5

CHAPTER III. THE GARRAL FAMILY ............................................................................................11

CHAPTER IV. HESITATION.............................................................................................................16

CHAPTER V. THE AMAZON.............................................................................................................20

CHAPTER VI. A FOREST ON THE GROUND ..................................................................................24

CHAPTER VII. FOLLOWING A LIANA ............................................................................................27

CHAPTER VIII. THE JANGADA .......................................................................................................36

CHAPTER IX. THE EVENING OF THE FIFTH OF JUNE ................................................................40

CHAPTER X. FROM IQUITOS TO PEVAS.......................................................................................44

CHAPTER XI. FROM PEVAS TO THE FRONTIER.........................................................................48

CHAPTER XII. FRAGOSO AT WORK ...............................................................................................54

CHAPTER XIII. TORRES...................................................................................................................59

CHAPTER XIV. STILL DESCENDING ..............................................................................................63

CHAPTER XV. THE CONTINUED DESCENT.................................................................................67

CHAPTER XVI. EGA ...........................................................................................................................71

CHAPTER XVII. AT ATTACK..........................................................................................................77

CHAPTER XVIII. THE ARRIVAL DINNER .....................................................................................83

CHAPTER XIX. ANCIENT HISTORY...............................................................................................87

CHAPTER XX. BETWEEN THE TWO MEN .....................................................................................90

PART II. THE CRYPTOGRAM..........................................................................................................97

CHAPTER I. MANAOS .......................................................................................................................97

CHAPTER II. THE FIRST MOMENTS ...............................................................................................98

CHAPTER III. RETROSPECTIVE....................................................................................................103

CHAPTER IV. MORAL PROOFS.....................................................................................................106

CHAPTER V. MATERIAL PROOFS .................................................................................................110

CHAPTER VI. THE LAST BLOW .....................................................................................................113

CHAPTER VII. RESOLUTIONS.......................................................................................................120

CHAPTER VIII. THE FIRST SEARCH ............................................................................................122

CHAPTER IX. THE SECOND ATTEMPT ........................................................................................126

CHAPTER X. A CANNON SHOT .....................................................................................................128

CHAPTER XI. THE CONTENTS OF THE CASE............................................................................132

CHAPTER XII. THE DOCUMENT...................................................................................................136

CHAPTER XIII. IS IT A MATTER OF FIGURES?.........................................................................141

CHAPTER XIV. CHANCE!...............................................................................................................146

CHAPTER XV. THE LAST EFFORTS ..............................................................................................151

CHAPTER XVI. PREPARATIONS...................................................................................................154

CHAPTER XVII. THE LAST NIGHT ...............................................................................................158

CHAPTER XVIII. FRAGOSO ...........................................................................................................162

CHAPTER XIX. THE CRIME OF TIJUCO .......................................................................................167

CHAPTER XX. THE LOWER AMAZON .........................................................................................170

THE MAN who held in his hand the document of which this strange assemblage of letters formed the

It contained about a hundred of these lines, with the letters at even distances, and undivided into words. It

seemed to have been written many years before, and time had already laid his tawny finger on the sheet of

On what principle had these letters been arranged? He who held the paper was alone able to tell. With such

cipher language it is as with the locks of some of our iron safesin either case the protection is the same.

The combinations which they lead to can be counted by millions, and no calculator's life would suffice to

express them. Some particular "word" has to be known before the lock of the safe will act, and some "cipher"

He who had just reperused the document was but a simple "captain of the woods." Under the name of

"Capitaes do Mato" are known in Brazil those individuals who are engaged in the recapture of fugitive slaves.

The institution dates from 1722. At that period antislavery ideas had entered the minds of a few

philanthropists, and more than a century had to elapse before the mass of the people grasped and applied

them. That freedom was a right, that the very first of the natural rights of man was to be free and to belong

only to himself, would seem to be selfevident, and yet thousands of years had to pass before the glorious

thought was generally accepted, and the nations of the earth had the courage to proclaim it.

In 1852, the year in which our story opens, there were still slaves in Brazil, and as a natural consequence,

captains of the woods to pursue them. For certain reasons of political economy the hour of general

emancipation had been delayed, but the black had at this date the right to ransom himself, the children which

were born to him were born free. The day was not far distant when the magnificent country, into which could

be put threequarters of the continent of Europe, would no longer count a single slave among its ten millions

The occupation of the captains of the woods was doomed, and at the period we speak of the advantages

obtainable from the capture of fugitives were rapidly diminishing. While, however, the calling continued

sufficiently profitable, the captains of the woods formed a peculiar class of adventurers, principally composed

of freedmen and desertersof not very enviable reputation. The slave hunters in fact belonged to the dregs

of society, and we shall not be far wrong in assuming that the man with the cryptogram was a fitting comrade

for his fellow "capitaes do mato." Torresfor that was his nameunlike the majority of his companions,

was neither halfbreed, Indian, nor negro. He was a white of Brazilian origin, and had received a better

education than befitted his present condition. One of those unclassed men who are found so frequently in the

distant countries of the New World, at a time when the Brazilian law still excluded mulattoes and others of

mixed blood from certain employments, it was evident that if such exclusion had affected him, it had done so

Torres at the present moment was not, however, in Brazil. He had just passed the frontier, and was wandering

He was a man of about thirty years of age, on whom the fatigues of a precarious existence seemed, thanks to

an exceptional temperament and an iron constitution, to have had no effect. Of middle height, broad

shoulders, regular features, and decided gait, his face was tanned with the scorching air of the tropics. He had

a thick black beard, and eyes lost under contracting eyebrows, giving that swift but hard glance so

characteristic of insolent natures. Clothed as backwoodsmen are generally clothed, not over elaborately, his

garments bore witness to long and roughish wear. On his head, stuck jauntily on one side, was a leather hat

with a large brim. Trousers he had of coarse wool, which were tucked into the tops of the thick, heavy boots

which formed the most substantial part of his attire, and over all, and hiding all, was a faded yellowish

But if Torres was a captain of the woods it was evident that he was not now employed in that capacity, his

means of attack and defense being obviously insufficient for any one engaged in the pursuit of the blacks. No

firearmsneither gun nor revolver. In his belt only one of those weapons, more sword than huntingknife,

called a "manchetta," and in addition he had an "enchada," which is a sort of hoe, specially employed in the

pursuit of the tatous and agoutis which abound in the forests of the Upper Amazon, where there is generally

On the 4th of May, 1852, it happened, then, that our adventurer was deeply absorbed in the reading of the

document on which his eyes were fixed, and, accustomed as he was to live in the forests of South America,

he was perfectly indifferent to their splendors. Nothing could distract his attention; neither the constant cry of

the howling monkeys, which St. Hillaire has graphically compared to the ax of the woodman as he strikes the

branches of the trees, nor the sharp jingle of the rings of the rattlesnake (not an aggressive reptile, it is true,

but one of the most venomous); neither the bawling voice of the horned toad, the most hideous of its kind,

nor even the solemn and sonorous croak of the bellowing frog, which, though it cannot equal the bull in size,

Torres heard nothing of all these sounds, which form, as it were, the complex voice of the forests of the New

World. Reclining at the foot of a magnificent tree, he did not even admire the lofty boughs of that "pao ferro,"

or iron wood, with its somber bark, hard as the metal which it replaces in the weapon and utensil of the Indian

savage. No. Lost in thought, the captain of the woods turned the curious paper again and again between his

fingers. With the cipher, of which he had the secret, he assigned to each letter its true value. He read, he

verified the sense of those lines, unintelligible to all but him, and then he smiledand a most unpleasant

Then he murmured some phrases in an undertone which none in the solitude of the Peruvian forests could

"Yes," said he, at length, "here are a hundred lines very neatly written, which, for some one that I know, have

an importance that is undoubted. That somebody is rich. It is a question of life or death for him, and looked at

in every way it will cost him something." And, scrutinizing the paper with greedy eyes, "At a conto [1] only

for each word of this last sentence it will amount to a considerable sum, and it is this sentence which fixes the

price. It sums up the entire document. It gives their true names to true personages; but before trying to

understand it I ought to begin by counting the number of words it contains, and even when this is done its

"There are fiftyeight words, and that makes fiftyeight contos. With nothing but that one could live in

Brazil, in America, wherever one wished, and even live without doing anything! And what would it be, then,

if all the words of this document were paid for at the same price? It would be necessary to count by hundreds

of contos. Ah! there is quite a fortune here for me to realize if I am not the greatest of duffers!"

It seemed as though the hands of Torres felt the enormous sum, and were already closing over the rolls of

"At length," he cried, "I see land; and I do not regret the voyage which has led me from the coast of the

Atlantic to the Upper Amazon. But this man may quit America and go beyond the seas, and then how can I

touch him? But no! he is there, and if I climb to the top of this tree I can see the roof under which he lives

with his family!" Then seizing the paper and shaking it with terrible meaning: "Before tomorrow I will be in

his presence; before tomorrow he will know that his honor and his life are contained in these lines. And

when he wishes to see the cipher which permits him to read them, hewell, he will pay for it. He will pay, if

I wish it, with all his fortune, as he ought to pay with all his blood! Ah! My worthy comrade, who gave me

this cipher, who told me where I could find his old colleague, and the name under which he has been hiding

For the last time Torres glanced over the yellow paper, and then, after carefully folding it, put it away into a

little copper box which he used for a purse. This box was about as big as a cigar case, and if what was in it

was all Torres possessed he would nowhere have been considered a wealthy man. He had a few of all the

coins of the neighboring Statesten doublecondors in gold of the United States of Colombia, worth about a

hundred francs; Brazilian reis, worth about as much; golden sols of Peru, worth, say, double; some Chilian

escudos, worth fifty francs or more, and some smaller coins; but the lot would not amount to more than five

hundred francs, and Torres would have been somewhat embarrassed had he been asked how or where he had

got them. One thing was certain, that for some months, after having suddenly abandoned the trade of the

slave hunter, which he carried on in the province of Para, Torres had ascended the basin of the Amazon,

crossed the Brazilian frontier, and come into Peruvian territory. To such a man the necessaries of life were

but few; expenses he had nonenothing for his lodging, nothing for his clothes. The forest provided his

food, which in the backwoods cost him naught. A few reis were enough for his tobacco, which he bought at

the mission stations or in the villages, and for a trifle more he filled his flask with liquor. With little he could

When he had pushed the paper into the metal box, of which the lid shut tightly with a snap, Torres, instead of

putting it into the pocket of his undervest, thought to be extra careful, and placed it near him in a hollow of a

root of the tree beneath which he was sitting. This proceeding, as it turned out, might have cost him dear.

It was very warm; the air was oppressive. If the church of the nearest village had possessed a clock, the clock

would have struck two, and, coming with the wind, Torres would have heard it, for it was not more than a

couple of miles off. But he cared not as to time. Accustomed to regulate his proceedings by the height of the

sun, calculated with more or less accuracy, he could scarcely be supposed to conduct himself with military

precision. He breakfasted or dined when he pleased or when he could; he slept when and where sleep

overtook him. If his table was not always spread, his bed was always ready at the foot of some tree in the

open forest. And in other respects Torres was not difficult to please. He had traveled during most of the

morning, and having already eaten a little, he began to feel the want of a snooze. Two or three hours' rest

would, he thought, put him in a state to continue his road, and so he laid himself down on the grass as

Torres was not one of those people who drop off to sleep without certain preliminaries. HE was in the habit

of drinking a drop or two of strong liquor, and of then smoking a pipe; the spirits, he said, overexcited the

brain, and the tobacco smoke agreeably mingled with the general haziness of his reverie.

Torres commenced, then, by applying to his lips a flask which he carried at his side; it contained the liquor

generally known under the name of "chica" in Peru, and more particularly under that of "caysuma" in the

Upper Amazon, to which fermented distillation of the root of the sweet manioc the captain had added a good

When Torres had drunk a little of this mixture he shook the flask, and discovered, not without regret, that it

Then taking out a short wooden pipe, he filled it with the coarse and bitter tobacco of Brazil, of which the

leaves belong to that old "petun" introduced into France by Nicot, to whom we owe the popularization of the

This native tobacco had little in common with the fine qualities of our present manufacturers; but Torres was

not more difficult to please in this matter than in others, and so, having filled his pipe, he struck a match and

applied the flame to a piece of that stick substance which is the secretion of certain of the hymenoptera, and is

known as "ants' amadou." With the amadou he lighted up, and after about a dozen whiffs his eyes closed, his

[1] One thousand reis are equal to three francs, and a conto of reis is worth three thousand francs.

TORRES SLEPT for about half an hour, and then there was a noise among the treesa sound of light

footsteps, as though some visitor was walking with naked feet, and taking all the precaution he could lest he

should be heard. To have put himself on guard against any suspicious approach would have been the first care

of our adventurer had his eyes been open at the time. But he had not then awoke, and what advanced was able

?Of all the prehensiletailed monkeys which haunt the forests of the Upper Amazongraceful sahuis,

horned sapajous, graycoated monos, sagouins which seem to wear a mask on their grimacing facesthe

guariba is without doubt the most eccentric. Of sociable disposition, and not very savage, differing therein

very greatly from the mucura, who is as ferocious as he is foul, he delights in company, and generally travels

in troops. It was he whose presence had been signaled from afar by the monotonous concert of voices, so like

the psalmsinging of some church choir. But if nature has not made him vicious, it is none the less necessary

to attack him with caution, and under any circumstances a sleeping traveler ought not to leave himself

exposed, lest a guariba should surprise him when he is not in a position to defend himself.

This monkey, which is also known in Brazil as the "barbado," was of large size. The suppleness and stoutness

of his limbs proclaimed him a powerful creature, as fit to fight on the ground as to leap from branch to branch

He advanced then cautiously, and with short steps. He glanced to the right and to the left, and rapidly swung

his tail. To these representatives of the monkey tribe nature has not been content to give four handsshe has

shown herself more generous, and added a fifth, for the extremity of their caudal appendage possesses a

The guariba noiselessly approached, brandishing a study cudgel, which, wielded by his muscular arm, would

have proved a formidable weapon. For some minutes he had seen the man at the foot of the tree, but the

sleeper did not move, and this doubtless induced him to come and look at him a little nearer. He came

forward then, not without hesitation, and stopped at last about three paces off.

On his bearded face was pictured a grin, which showed his sharpedged teeth, white as ivory, and the cudgel

began to move about in a way that was not very reassuring for the captain of the woods.

Unmistakably the sight of Torres did not inspire the guariba with friendly thoughts. Had he then particular

reasons for wishing evil to this defenseless specimen of the human race which chance had delivered over to

him? Perhaps! We know how certain animals retain the memory of the bad treatment they have received, and

it is possible that against backwoodsmen in general he bore some special grudge.

In fact Indians especially make more fuss about the monkey than any other kind of game, and, no matter to

what species it belongs, follow its chase with the ardor of Nimrods, not only for the pleasure of hunting it, but

Whatever it was, the guariba did not seen disinclined to change characters this time, and if he did not quite

forget that nature had made him but a simple herbivore, and longed to devour the captain of the woods, he

seemed at least to have made up his mind to get rid of one of his natural enemies.

After looking at him for some minutes the guariba began to move round the tree. He stepped slowly, holding

his breath, and getting nearer and nearer. His attitude was threatening, his countenance ferocious. Nothing

could have seemed easier to him than to have crushed this motionless man at a single blow, and assuredly at

In truth, the guariba stopped a second time close up to the tree, placed himself at the side, so as to command

But if Torres had been imprudent in putting near him in the crevice of the root the little case which contained

A sunbeam shooting between the branches just glinted on the case, the polished metal of which lighted up

like a lookingglass. The monkey, with the frivolity peculiar to his species, instantly had his attention

distracted. His ideas, if such an animal could have ideas, took another direction. He stopped, caught hold of

the case, jumped back a pace or two, and, raising it to the level of his eyes, looked at it not without surprise as

he moved it about and used it like a mirror. He was if anything still more astonished when he heard the rattle

of the gold pieces it contained. The music enchanted him. It was like a rattle in the hands of a child. He

carried it to his mouth, and his teeth grated against the metal, but made no impression on it.

Doubtless the guariba thought he had found some fruit of a new kind, a sort of huge almost brilliant all over,

and with a kernel playing freely in its shell. But if he soon discovered his mistake he did not consider it a

reason for throwing the case away; on the contrary, he grasped it more tightly in his left hand, and dropped

At this noise Torres woke, and with the quickness of those who are always on the watch, with whom there is

no transition from the sleeping to the waking state, was immediately on his legs.

The monkey, alarmed, jumped back at once, and not so brave before a waking man as a sleeping one,

"It was time!" said Torres; "the rogue would have settled me without any ceremony!"

Of a sudden, between the hands of the monkey, who had stopped at about twenty paces, and was watching

him with violent grimaces, as if he would like to snap his fingers at him, he caught sight of his precious case.

"The beggar!" he said. "If he has not killed me, he has done what is almost as bad. He has robbed me!"

The thought that the case held his money was not however, what then concerned him. But that which made

him jump was the recollection that it contained the precious document, the loss of which was irreparable, as it

And at the moment, cost what it might to recapture his case, Torres threw himself in pursuit of the guariba.

He knew that to reach such an active animal was not easy. On the ground he could get away too fast, in the

branches he could get away too far. A wellaimed gunshot could alone stop him as he ran or climbed, but

Torres possessed no firearm. His swordknife and hoe were useless unless he could get near enough to hit

It soon became evident that the monkey could not be reached unless by surprise. Hence Torres found it

necessary to employ cunning in dealing with the mischievous animal. To stop, to hide himself behind some

tree trunk, to disappear under a bush, might induce the guariba to pull up and retrace his steps, and there was

nothing else for Torres to try. This was what he did, and the pursuit commenced under these conditions; but

when the captain of the woods disappeared, the monkey patiently waited until he came into sight again, and

"Confound the guariba!" he shouted at length. "There will be no end to this, and he will lead me back to the

Brazilian frontier. If only he would let go of my case! But no! The jingling of the money amuses him. Oh,

And Torres recommenced the pursuit, and the monkey scuttled off with renewed vigor.

An hour passed in this way without any result. Torres showed a persistency which was quite natural. How

And then anger seized him. He swore, he stamped, he threatened the guariba. That annoying animal only

And then Torres gave himself up to the chase. He ran at top speed, entangling himself in the high

undergrowth, among those thick brambles and interlacing creepers, across which the guariba passed like a

steeplechaser. Big roots hidden beneath the grass lay often in the way. He stumbled over them and again

His strength gave out, breath failed him, and he was obliged to stop. "Confound it!" said he, "when I am after

runaway slaves across the jungle they never give me such trouble as this! But I will have you, you wretched

monkey! I will go, yes, I will go as far as my legs will carry me, and we shall see!"

The guariba had remained motionless when he saw that the adventurer had ceased to pursue him. He rested

also, for he had nearly reached that degree of exhaustion which had forbidden all movement on the part of

He remained like this during ten minutes, nibbling away at two or three roots, which he picked off the

Torres, driven to distraction, picked up the stones within his reach, and threw them at him, but did no harm at

But he hesitated to make a fresh start. On one hand, to keep on in chase of the monkey with so little chance of

reaching him was madness. On the other, to accept as definite this accidental interruption to all his plans, to

be not only conquered, but cheated and hoaxed by a dumb animal, was maddening. And in the meantime

Torres had begun to think that when the night came the robber would disappear without trouble, and he, the

robbed one, would find a difficulty in retracing his way through the dense forest. In fact, the pursuit had taken

him many miles from the bank of the river, and he would even now find it difficult to return to it.

Torres hesitated; he tried to resume his thoughts with coolness, and finally, after giving vent to a last

imprecation, he was about to abandon all idea of regaining possession of his case, when once more, in spite

of himself, there flashed across him the thought of his document, the remembrance of all that scaffolding on

which his future hopes depended, on which he had counted so much; and he resolved to make another effort.

The monkey made as many in the rear, but this time, instead of plunging more deeply into the forest, he

stopped at the foot of an enormous ficusthe tree of which the different kinds are so numerous all over the

To seize the trunk with his four hands, to climb with the agility of a clown who is acting the monkey, to hook

on with his prehensile tail to the first branches, which stretched away horizontally at forty feet from the

ground, and to hoist himself to the top of the tree, to the point where the higher branches just bent beneath its

weight, was only sport to the active guariba, and the work of but a few seconds.

Up there, installed at his ease, he resumed his interrupted repast, and gathered the fruits which were within

his reach. Torres, like him, was much in want of something to eat and drink, but it was impossible! His pouch

However, instead of retracing his steps he directed them toward the tree, although the position taken up by

the monkey was still more unfavorable for him. He could not dream for one instant of climbing the ficus,

Then in his fury, in his folly, Torres apostrophized the guariba. It would be impossible for us to tell the series

of invectives in which he indulged. Not only did he call him a halfbreed, which is the greatest of insults in

the mouth of a Brazilian of white descent, but "curiboca"that is to say, halfbreed negro and Indian, and of

all the insults that one man can hurl at another in this equatorial latitude "curiboca" is the cruelest.

But the monkey, who was only a humble quadruman, was simply amused at what would have revolted a

Then Torres began to throw stones at him again, and bits of roots and everything he could get hold of that

would do for a missile. Had he the hope to seriously hurt the monkey? No! he no longer knew what he was

about. To tell the truth, anger at his powerlessness had deprived him of his wits. Perhaps he hoped that in one

of the movements which the guariba would make in passing from branch ot branch the case might escape

him, perhaps he thought that if he continued to worry the monkey he might throw it at his head. But no! the

monkey did not part with the case, and, holding it with one hand, he had still three left with which to move.

Torres, in despair, was just about to abandon the chase for good, and to return toward the Amazon, when he

The first care of Torres was to hide himself in a dense thicket. Like a prudent man, he did not wish to show

himself without at least knowing with whom he might have to deal. Panting, puzzled, his ears on the stretch,

A cry followed, and the monkey, mortally wounded, fell heavily on the ground, still holding Torres' case.

And then, without fearing to be seen, he came out of the thicket, and two young gentlemen appeared from

They were Brazilians clothed as hunters, with leather boots, light palmleaf hats, waistcoats, or rather tunics,

buckled in at the waist, and more convenient than the national poncho. By their features and their complexion

Each of them was armed with one of those long guns of Spanish make which slightly remind us of the arms

of the Arabs, guns of long range and considerable precision, which the dwellers in the forest of the upper

What had just happened was a proof of this. At an angular distance of more than eighty paces the quadruman

The two young men carried in addition, in their belts, a sort of daggerknife, which is known in Brazil as a

"foca," and which hunters do not hesitate to use when attacking the ounce and other wild animals which, if

Torres had obviously little to fear from this meeting, and so he went on running toward the monkey's corpse.

But the young men, who were taking the same direction, had less ground to cover, and coming forward a few

"Many thanks, gentlemen," said he gayly, as he raised the brim of his hat; "in killing this wretched animal

The hunters looked at him inquiringly, not knowing what value to attach to his thanks.

"You thought you had killed a monkey," said he, "but as it happens you have killed a thief!"

"If we have been of use to you," said the youngest of the two, "it was by accident, but we are none the less

And taking several steps to the rear, he bent over the guariba, and, not without an effort, withdrew the case

"The very thing," said Torres briskly, catching hold of the case and failing to repress a huge sigh of relief.

"Whom ought I to thank, gentlemen," said he, "for the service you have rendered me?"

"If it was I who shot the monkey, Benito," said Manoel, "it was you that pointed him out to me."

"In that case, sirs," replied Torres, "I am under an obligation to you both, as well to you, Mr. Manoel, as to

The captain of the woods required great command over himself to avoid giving a jump when he heard this

"My father, Joam Garral, has his farm about three miles from here. If you would like, Mr. "

"If you would like to accompany us there, Mr. Torres, you will be hospitably received."

"I do not know that I can," said Torres, who, surprised by this unexpected meeting, hesitated to make a start.

"I fear in truth that I am not able to accept your offer. The occurrence I have just related to you has caused me

to lose time. It is necessary for me to return at once to the Amazonas I purpose descending thence to Para."

"Very well, Mr. Torres," replied Benito, "it is not unlikely that we shall see you again in our travels, for

before a month has passed my father and all his family will have taken the same road as you."

"Ah!" said Torres sharply, "your father is thinking of recrossing the Brazilian frontier?"

"Yes, for a voyage of some months," replied Benito. "At least we hope to make him decide so. Don't we,

"Well, gentlemen," replied Torres, "it is very probable that we shall meet again on the road. But I cannot,

much to my regret, accept your offer now. I thank you, nevertheless, and I consider myself as twice your

And having said so, Torres saluted the young men, who in turn saluted him, and set out on their way to the

As for Torres he looked after them as they got further and further away, and when he had lost sight of

"Ah! he is about to recross the frontier!" said he, with a deep voice. "Let him recross it! and he will be still

And having uttered these words the captain of the woods, making for the south so as to regain the left bank of

THE VILLAGE of Iquitos is situated on the left bank of the Amazon, near the seventyfourth meridian, on

that portion of the great river which still bears the name of the Marnon, and of which the bed separates Peru

from the republic of Ecuador. It is about fiftyfive leagues to the west of the Brazilian frontier.

Iquitos, like every other collection of huts, hamlet, or village met with in the basin of the Upper Amazon, was

founded by the missionaries. Up to the seventeenth year of the century the Iquito Indians, who then formed

the entire population, were settled in the interior of the province at some distance from the river. But one day

the springs in their territory all dried up under the influence of a volcanic eruption, and they were obliged to

come and take up their abode on the left of the Mar�non. The race soon altered through the alliances which

were entered into with the riverine Indians, Ticunas, or Omaguas, mixed descent with a few Spaniards, and

The village is most picturesquely grouped on a kind of esplanade, and runs along at about sixty feet from the

river. It consists of some forty miserable huts, whose thatched roofs only just render them worthy of the name

of cottages. A stairway made of crossed trunks of trees leads up to the village, which lies hidden from the

traveler's eyes until the steps have been ascended. Once at the top he finds himself before an inclosure

admitting of slight defense, and consisting of many different shrubs and arborescent plants, attached to each

other by festoons of lianas, which here and there have made their way abgove the summits of the graceful

At the time we speak of the Indians of Iquitos went about in almost a state of nudity. The Spaniards and

halfbreeds alone were clothed, and much as they scorned their indigenous fellowcitizens, wore only a

simple shirt, light cotton trousers, and a straw hat. All lived cheerlessly enough in the village, mixing little

together, and if they did meet occasionally, it was only at such times as the bell of the mission called them tot

But if existence in the village of Iquitos, as in most of the hamlets of the Upper Amazon, was almost in a

rudimentary stage, it was only necessary to journey a league further down the river to find on the same bank a

This was the farm of Joam Garral, toward which our two young friends returned after their meeting with the

There, on a bend of the stream, at the junction of the River Nanay, which is here about five hundred feet

across, there had been established for many years this farm, homestead, or, to use the expression of the

country, "fazenda," then in the height of its prosperity. The Nanay with its left bank bounded it to the north

for about a mile, and for nearly the same distance to the east it ran along the bank of the larger river. To the

west some small rivulets, tributaries of the Nanay, and some lagoons of small extent, separated it from the

It was here that Joam Garral, in 1826, twentysix years before the date when our story opens, was received

This Portuguese, whose name was Magalha�s, followed the trade of timberfelling, and his settlement, then

There, hospitable as he was, like all the Portuguese of the old race, Magalha�s lived with his daughter

Yaquita, who after the death of her mother had taken charge of his household. Magalha�s was an excellent

worker, inured to fatigue, but lacking education. If he understood the management of the few slaves whom he

owned, and the dozen Indians whom he hired, he showed himself much less apt in the various external

requirements of his trade. In truth, the establishment at Iquitos was not prospering, and the affairs of the

It was under these circumstances that Joam Garral, then twentytwo years old, found himself one day in the

presence of Magalha�s. He had arrived in the country at the limit both of his strength and his resources.

Magalha�s had found him halfdead with hunger and fatigue in the neighboring forest. The Portuguese had

an excellent heart; he did not ask the unknown where he came from, but what he wanted. The noble,

highspirited look which Joam Garral bore in spite of his exhaustion had touched him. He received him,

restored him, and, for several days to begin with, offered him a hospitality which lasted for his life.

Under such conditions it was that Joam Garral was introduced to the farm at Iquitos.

Brazilian by birth, Joam Garral was without family or fortune. Trouble, he said, had obliged him to quit his

country and abandon all thoughts of return. He asked his host to excuse his entering on his past

misfortunesmisfortunes as serious as they were unmerited. What he sought, and what he wished, was a

new life, a life of labor. He had started on his travels with some slight thought of entering a fazenda in the

interior. He was educated, intelligent. He had in all his bearing that inexpressible something which tells you

that the man is genuine and of frank and upright character. Magalha�s, quite taken with him, asked him to

remain at the farm, where he would, in a measure, supply that which was wanting in the worthy farmer.

Joam Garral accepted the offer without hesitation. His intention had been to join a "seringal," or caoutchouc

concern, in which in those days a good workman could earn from five to six piastres a day, and could hope to

become a master if he had any luck; but Magalha�s very truly observed that if the pay was good, work was

only found in the seringals at harvest timethat is to say, during only a few months of the yearand this

The Portuguese was right. Joam Garral saw it, and entered resolutely into the service of the fazenda, deciding

Magalha�s had no cause to regret his generous action. His business recovered. His wood trade, which

extended by means of the Amazon up to Para, was soon considerably extended under the impulse of Joam

Garral. The fazenda began to grow in proportion, and to spread out along the bank of the river up to its

junction with the Nanay. A delightful residence was made of the house; it was raised a story, surrounded by a

veranda, and half hidden under beautiful treesmimosas, figsycamores, bauhinias, and paullinias, whose

trunks were invisible beneath a network of scarletflowered bromelias and passionflowers.

At a distance, behind huge bushes and a dense mass of arborescent plants, were concealed the buildings in

which the staff of the fazenda were accommodatedthe servants' offices, the cabins of the blacks, and the

huts of the Indians. From the bank of the river, bordered with reeds and aquatic plants, the treeencircled

A vast meadow, laboriously cleared along the lagoons, offered excellent pasturage. Cattle aboundeda new

source of profit in these fertile countries, where a herd doubles in four years, and where ten per cent. interest

is earned by nothing more than the skins and the hides of the animals killed for the consumption of those who

raise them! A few "sitios," or manioc and coffee plantations, were started in parts of the woods which were

cleared. Fields of sugarcanes soon required the construction of a mill to crush the sacchariferous stalks

destined to be used hereafter in the manufacture of molasses, tafia, and rum. In short, ten years after the

arrival of Joam Garral at the farm at Iquitos the fazenda had become one of the richest establishments on the

Upper Amazon. Thanks to the good management exercised by the young clerk over the works at home and

The Portuguese did not wait so long to acknowledge what he owed to Joam Garral. In order to recompense

him in proportion to his merits he had from the first given him an interest in the profits of his business, and

four years after his arrival he had made him a partner on the same footing as himself, and with equal shares.

But there was more that he had in store for him. Yaquita, his daughter, had, in this silent young man, so

gentle to others, so stern to himself, recognized the sterling qualities which her father had done. She was in

love with him, but though on his side Joam had not remained insensible to the merits and the beauty of this

excellent girl, he was too proud and reserved to dream of asking her to marry him.

Magalha�s was one day superintending a clearance and was mortally wounded by the fall of a tree. Carried

home helpless to the farm, and feeling himself lost, he raised up Yaquita, who was weeping by his side, took

her hand, and put it into that of Joam Garral, making him swear to take her for his wife.

"You have made my fortune," he said, "and I shall not die in peace unless by this union I know that the

"I can continue her devoted servant, her brother, her protector, without being her husband," Joam Garral had

at first replied. "I owe you all, Magalha�s. I will never forget it, but the price you would pay for my

The old man insisted. Death would not allow him to wait; he demanded the promise, and it was made to him.

Yaquita was then twentytwo years old, Joam was twentysix. They loved each other and they were married

some hours before the death of Magalha�s, who had just strength left to bless their union.

It was under these circumstances that in 1830 Joam Garral became the new fazender of Iquitos, to the

The prosperity of the settlement could not do otherwise than grow then these two minds were thus united.

A year after her marriage Yaquita presented her husband with a son, and, two years after, a daughter. Benito

and Minha, the grandchildren of the old Portuguese, became worthy of their grandfather, children worthy of

The daughter grew to be one of the most charming of girls. She never left the fazenda. Brought up in pure and

healthy surroundings, in the midst of the beauteous nature of the tropics, the education given to her by her

mother, and the instruction received by her from her father, were ample. What more could she have learned in

a convent at Manaos or Belem? Where would she have found better examples of the domestic virtues? Would

her mind and feelings have been more delicately formed away from her home? If it was ordained that she was

not to succeed her mother in the management of the fazenda, she was equal to say any other position to which

With Benito it was another thing. His father very wisely wished him to receive as solid and complete an

education as could then be obtained in the large towns of Brazil. There was nothing which the rich fazender

refused his son. Benito was possessed of a cheerful disposition, an active mind, a lively intelligence, and

qualities of heart equal to those of his head. At the age of twelve he was sent into Para, to Belem, and there,

under the direction of excellent professors, he acquired the elements of an education which could not but

eventually make him a distinguished man. Nothing in literature, in the sciences, in the arts, was a stranger to

him. He studied as if the fortune of his father would not allow him to remain idle. He was not among such as

imagine that riches exempt men from workhe was one of those noble characters, resolute and just, who

believe that nothing should diminish our natural obligation in this respect if we wish to be worthy of the

During the first years of his residence at Belem, Benito had made the acquaintance of Manoel Valdez. This

young man, the son of a merchant in P:ara, was pursuing his studies in the same institution as Benito. The

conformity of their characters and their tastes proved no barrier to their uniting in the closest of friendships,

Manoel, born in 1832, was one year older than Benito. He had only a mother, and she lived on the modest

fortune which her husband had left her. When Manoel's preliminary studies were finished, he had taken up

the subject of medicine. He had a passionate taste for that noble profession, and his intention was to enter the

At the time that we saw him with his friend Benito, Manoel Valdez had already obtained his first step, and he

had come away on leave for some months to the fazenda, where he was accustomed to pass his holidays.

Wellbuilt, and of distinguished bearing, with a certain native pride which became him well, the young man

was treated by Joam and Yaquita as another son. But if this quality of son made him the brother of Benito,

the title was scarcely appreciated by him when Minha was concerned, for he soon became attached to the

In the year 1852of which four months had already passed before the commencement of this historyJoam

Garral attained the age of fortyeight years. In that sultry cliimate, which wears men away so quickly, he had

known how, by sobriety, selfdenial, suitable living, and constant work, to remain untouched where others

had prematurely succumbed. His hair, which he wore short, and his beard, which was full, had already grown

gray, and gave him the look of a Puritan. The proverbial honesty of the Brazilian merchants and fazenders

showed itself in his features, of which straightforwardness was the leading characteristic. His calm

temperament seemed to indicate an interior fire, kept well under control. The fearlessness of his look denoted

a deeprooted strength, to which, when danger threatened, he could never appeal in vain.

But, notwithstanding one could not help remarking about this quiet man of vigorous health, with whom all

things had succeeded in life, a depth of sadness which even the tenderness of Yaquita had not been able to

Respected by all, placed in all the conditions that would seem necessary to happiness, why was not this just

man more cheerful and less reserved? Why did he seem to be happy for others and not for himself? Was this

disposition attributable to some secret grief? Herein was a constant source of anxiety to his wife.

Yaquita was now fortyfour. In that tropical country where women are already old at thirty she had learned

the secret of resisting the climate's destructive influences, and her features, a little sharpened but still

beautiful, retained the haughty outline of the Portuguese type, in which nobility of face unites so naturally

Benito and Minha responded with an affection unbounded and unceasing for the love which their parents

Benito was now aged twentyone, and quick, brave, and sympathetic, contrasted outwardly with his friend

Manoel, who was more serious and reflective. It was a great treat for Benito, after quite a year passed at

Belem, so far from the fazenda, to return with his young friend to his home to see once more his father, his

mother, his sister, and to find himself, enthusiastic hunter as he was, in the midst of these superb forests of

the Upper Amazon, some of whose secrets remained after so many centuries still unsolved by man.

Minha was twenty years old. A lovely girl, brunette, and with large blue eyes, eyes which seemed to open

into her very soul; of middle height, good figure, and winning grace, in every way the very image of Yaquita.

A little more serious than her brother, affable, goodnatured, and charitable, she was beloved by all. On this

subject you could fearlessly interrogate the humblest servants of the fazenda. It was unnecessary to ask her

brother's friend, Manoel Valdez, what he thought of her. He was too much interested in the question to have

This sketch of the Garral family would not be complete, and would lack some of its features, were we not to

In the first place, then, it behooves us to name an old negress, of some sixty years, called Cybele, free through

the will of her master, a slave through her affection for him and his, and who had been the nurse of Yaquita.

She was one of the family. She theeed and thoued both daughter and mother. The whole of this good

creature's life was passed in these fields, in the middle of these forests, on that bank of the river which

bounded the horizon of the farm. Coming as a child to Iquitos in the slavetrading times, she had never

quitted the village; she was married there, and early a widow, had lost her only son, and remained in the

service of Magalha�s. Of the Amazon she knew no more than what flowed before her eyes.

With her, and more specially attached to the service of Minha, was a pretty, laughing mulatto, of the same

age as her mistress, to whom she was completely devoted. She was called Lina. One of those gentle creatures,

a little spoiled, perhaps, to whom a good deal of familiarity is allowed, but who in return adore their

mistresses. Quick, restless, coaxing, and lazy, she could do what she pleased in the house.

As for servants they were of two kindsIndians, of whom there were about a hundred, employed always for

the works of the fazenda, and blacks to about double the number, who were not yet free, but whose children

were not born slaves. Joam Garral had herein preceded the Brazilian government. In this country, moreover,

the negroes coming from Benguela, the Congo, or the Gold Coast were always treated with kindness, and it

was not at the fazenda of Iquitos that one would look for those sad examples of cruelty which were so

MANOEL WAS in love with the sister of his friend Benito, and she was in love with him. Each was sensible

When he was no longer able to mistake the state of his feelings toward Minha, Manoel had opened his heart

"Manoel, my friend," had immediately answered the enthusiastic young fellow, "you could not do better than

wish to marry my sister. Leave it to me! I will commence by speaking to the mother, and I think I can

Benito had nothing to tell his mother which she did not know; Yaquita had already divined the young

Before ten minutes had elapsed Benito was in the presence of Minha. They had but to agree; there was no

need for much eloquence. At the first words the head of the gentle girl was laid on her brother's shoulder, and

The answer almost came before the question; that was obvious. Benito did not ask for more.

There could be little doubt as to Joam Garral's consent. But if Yaquita and her children did not at once speak

to him about the marriage, it was because they wished at the same time to touch on a question which might be

more difficult to solve. That question was, Where should the wedding take place?

Where should it be celebrated? In the humble cottage which served for the village church? Why not? Joam

and Yaquita had there received the nuptial benediction of the Padre Passanha, who was then the curate of

Iquitos parish. At that time, as now, there was no distinction in Brazil between the civil and religious acts,

and the registers of the mission were sufficient testimony to a ceremony which no officer of the civil power

Joam Garral would probably wish the marriage to take place at Iquitos, with grand ceremonies and the

attendance of the whole staff of the fazenda, but if such was to be his idea he would have to withstand a

"Manoel," Minha said to her betrothed, "if I was consulted in the matter we should not be married here, but at

Para. Madame Valdez is an invalid; she cannot visit Iquitos, and I should not like to become her daughter

without knowing and being known by her. My mother agrees with me in thinking so. We should like to

To this proposition Manoel had replied by pressing Minha's hand. He also had a great wish for his mother to

be present at his marriage. Benito had approved the scheme without hesitation, and it was only necessary to

persuade Joam Garral. And hence on this day the young men had gone out hunting in the woods, so as to

In the afternoon these two were in the large room of the house. Joam Garral, who had just come in, was

halfreclining on a couch of plaited bamboos, when Yaquita, a little anxious, came and seated herself beside

To tell Joam of the feelings which Manoel entertained toward his daughter was not what troubled her. The

happiness of Minha could not but be assured by the marriage, and Joam would be glad to welcome to his

arms the new son whose sterling qualities he recognized and appreciated. But to persuade her husband to

In fact, since Joam Garral, then a young man, had arrived in the country, he had never left it for a day.

Though the sight of the Amazon, with its waters gently flowing to the east, invited him to follow its course;

though Joam every year sent rafts of wood to Manaos, to Belem, and the seacoast of Para; though he had seen

each year Benito leave after his holidays to return to his studies, yet the thought seemed never to have

The products of the farm, of the forest, and of the fields, the fazender sold on the spot. He had not wish, either

From this it followed that for twentyfive years Joam Garral had never crossed the Brazilian frontier, his wife

and daughter had never set foot on Brazilian soil. The longing to see something of that beautiful country of

which Benito was often talking was not wanting, nevertheless. Two or three times Yaquita had sounded her

husband in the matter. But she had noticed that the thought of leaving the fazenda, if only for a few weeks,

brought an increase of sadness to his face. His eyes would close, and in a tone of mild reproach he would

And Yaquita, in the presence of the man whose active kindness and unchangeable tenderness rendered her so

This time, however, there was a serious reason to make it worth while. The marriage of Minha afforded an

excellent opportunity, it being so natural for them to accompany her to Belem, where she was going to live

with her husband. She would there see and learn to love the mother of Manoel Valdez. How could Joam

Garral hesitate in the face of so praiseworthy a desire? Why, on the other hand, did he not participate in this

desire to become acquainted with her who was to be the second mother of his child?

Yaquita took her husband's hand, and with that gentle voice which had been to him all the music of his life:

"Joam," she said, "I am going to talk to you about something which we ardently wish, and which will make

"Manoel loves your daughter, he is loved by her, and in this union they will find the happiness"

At the first words of Yaquita Joam Garral had risen, without being able to control a sudden start. His eyes

were immediately cast down, and he seemed to designedly avoid the look of his wife.

"My dear," said Yaquita, feeling somewhat hurt, "have you any objection to make to the marriage? Have you

not for some time noticed the feelings which Manoel has entertained toward our daughter?"

And Joam sat down without finishing his thoughts. By an effort of his will he had again become master of

himself. The unaccountable impression which had been made upon him disappeared. Gradually his eyes

"Joam," she said, "have I been deceived? Had you no idea that this marriage would one day take place, and

"Yes," answered Joam. "All! Certainly. But, Yaquita, this weddingthis wedding that we are both thinking

This question obliged Yaquita to enter on the other matter which she had at heart. She did not do so, however,

"Joam," said she, after a moment's silence, "listen to me. Regarding this wedding, I have got a proposal which

I hope you will approve of. Two or three times during the last twenty years I have asked you to take me and

my daughter to the provinces of the Lower Amazon, and to Para, where we have never been. The cares of the

fazenda, the works which have required your presence, have not allowed you to grant our request. To absent

yourself even for a few days would then have injured your business. But now everything has been successful

beyond your dreams, and if the hour of repose has not yet come for you, you can at least for a few weeks get

Joam Garral did not answer, but Yaquita felt his hand tremble in hers, as though under the shock of some

sorrowful recollection. At the same time a halfsmile came to her husband's lipsa mute invitation for her

"Joam," she continued, "here is an occasion which we shall never see again in this life. Minha is going to be

married away from us, and is going to leave us! It is the first sorrow which our daughter has caused us, and

my heart quails when I think of the separation which is so near! But I should be content if I could accompany

her to Belem! Does it not seem right to you, even in other respects that we should know her husband's

mother, who is to replace me, and to whom we are about to entrust her? Added to this, Minha does not wish

to grieve Madame Valdez by getting married at a distance from her. When we were married, Joam, if your

mother had been alive, would you not have liked her to be present at your wedding?"

"My dear," continued Yaquita, "with Minha, with our two sons, Benito and Manoel, with you, how I should

like to see Brazil, and to journey down this splendid river, even to the provinces on the seacoast through

which it runs! It seems to me that the separation would be so much less cruel! As we came back we should

revisit our daughter in her house with her second mother. I would not think of her as gone I knew not where. I

This time Joam had fixed his eyes on his wife and looked at her for some time without saying anything.

What ailed him? Why this hesitation to grant a request which was so just in itselfto say "Yes," when it

would give such pleasure to all who belonged to him? His business affairs could not afford a sufficient

reason. A few weeks of absence would not compromise matters to such a degree. Hi manager would be able

to take his place without any hitch in the fazenda. And yet all this time he hesitated.

"Joam," she said, "it is not a mere whim that I am asking you to grant. No! For a long time I have thought

over the proposition I have just made to you; and if you consent, it will be the realization of my most

cherished desire. Our children know why I am now talking to you. Minha, Benito, Manoel, all ask this favor,

that we should accompany them. We would all rather have the wedding at Belem than at Iquitos. It will be

better for your daughter, for her establishment, for the position which she will take at Belem, that she should

arrive with her people, and appear less of a stranger in the town in which she will spend most of her life."

Joam Garral leaned on his elbows. For a moment he hid his face in his hands, like a man who had to collect

his thoughts before he made answer. There was evidently some hesitation which he was anxious to overcome,

even some trouble which his wife felt but could not explain. A secret battle was being fought under that

thoughtful brow. Yaquita got anxious, and almost reproached herself for raising the question. Anyhow, she

was resigned to what Joam should decide. If the expedition would cost too much, she would silence her

wishes; she would never more speak of leaving the fazenda, and never ask the reason for the inexplicable

Some minutes passed. Joam Garral rose. He went to the door, and did not return. Then he seemed to give a

last look on that glorious nature, on that corner of the world where for twenty years of his life he had met

Then with slow steps he returned to his wife. His face bore a new expression, that of a man who had taken a

"You are right," he said, in a firm voice. "The journey is necessary. When shall we start?"

"Ah! Joam! my Joam!" cried Yaquita, in her joy. "Thank you for me! Thank you for them!"

And tears of affection came to her eyes as her husband clasped her to his heart.

Manoel and Benito appeared an instant after at the threshold, almost at the same moment as Minha entered

With a grave face, and without speaking a word, Joam Garral received the congratulations of his son and the

"I am so happy! I am so happy!" repeated Minha, as she had done on the day when she had first known of

Manoel's request. "We shall now see the Amazon in all its glory throughout its course through the provinces

And the young enthusiast, whose imagination was already stirred, continued to her brother and to Manoel:

"Let us be off to the library! Let us get hold of every book and every map that we can find which will tell us

anything about this magnificent river system! Don't let us travel like blind folks! I want to see everything and

"THE LARGEST river in the whole world!" said Benito to Manoel Valdez, on the morrow.

They were sitting on the bank which formed the southern boundary of the fazenda, and looking at the liquid

molecules passing slowly by, which, coming from the enormous range of the Andes, were on their road to

"And the river which carries to the sea the largest volume of water," replied Manoel.

"A volume so considerable," added Benito, "that it freshens the sea water for an immense distance from its

mouth, and the force of whose current is felt by ships at eight leagues from the coast."

"And in a basin which from south to north does not comprise less than twentyfive degrees."

"A basin!" exclaimed Benito. "Can you call it a basin, the vast plain through which it runs, the savannah

which on all sides stretches out of sight, without a hill to give a gradient, without a mountain to bound the

"And along its whole extent," continued Manoel, "like the thousand tentacles of some gigantic polyp, two

hundred tributaries, flowing from north or south, themselves fed by smaller affluents without number, by the

"And in its course five hundred and sixty islands, without counting islets, drifting or stationary, forming a

"And along its flanks canals, lagoons, and lakes, such as cannot be met with even in Switzerland, Lombardy,

"A river which, fed by its myriad tributaries, discharges into the Atlantic over two hundred and fifty millions

"A river whose course serves as the boundary of two republics, and sweeps majestically across the largest

empire of South America, as if it were, in very truth, the Pacific Ocean itself flowing out along its own canal

"And what a mouth! An arm of the sea in which one island, Marajo, has a circumference of more than five

"And whose waters the ocean does not pond back without raising in a strife which is phenomenal, a

tiderace, or 'pororoca,' to which the ebbs, the bores, and the eddies of other rivers are but tiny ripples fanned

"A river which three names are scarcely enough to distinguish, and which ships of heavy tonnage, without

any change in their cargoes, can ascend for more than three thousand miles from its mouth."

"A river which, by itself, its affluents, and subsidiary streams, opens a navigable commercial route across the

whole of the south of the continent, passing from the Magdalena to the Ortequazza, from the Ortequazza to

the Caqueta, from the Caqueta to the Putumayo, from the Putumayo to the Amazon! Four thousand miles of

waterway, which only require a few canals to make the network of navigation complete!"

"In short, the biggest and most admirable river system which we have in the world."

The two young men were speaking in a kind of frenzy of their incomparable river. They were themselves

children of this great Amazon, whose affluents, well worthy of itself, from the highways which penetrate

Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, New Grenada, Venezuela, and the four GuianasEnglish, French, Dutch and

What nations, what races, has it seen whose origin is lost in the fardistant past! It is one of the largest rivers

of the globe. Its true source still baffles our explorers. Numbers of States still claim the honor of giving it

birth. The Amazon was not likely to escape the inevitable fate, and Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia have for

Today, however, there seems to be little doubt but that the Amazon rises in Peru, in the district of Huaraco,

in the department of Tarma, and that it starts from the Lake of Lauricocha, which is situated between the

Those who make the river rise in Bolivia, and descend form the mountains of Titicaca, have to prove that the

true Amazon is the Ucayali, which is formed by the junction of the Paro and the Apurimacan assertion

At its departure from Lake Lauricocha the youthful river starts toward the northeast for a distance of five

hundred and sixty miles, and does not strike to the west until it has received an important tributarythe

Panta. It is called the Mara�on in its journey through Colombia and Peru up to the Brazilian frontieror,

rather, the Maranhao, for Mara�on is only the French rendering of the Portuguese name.

From the frontier of Brazil to Manaos, where the superb Rio Negro joins it, it takes the name of the Solima�s,

or Solimoens, from the name of the Indian tribe Solimao, of which survivors are still found in the

neighboring provinces. And, finally, from Manaos to the sea it is the Amasenas, or river of the Amazons, a

name given it by the old Spaniards, the descendants of the adventurous Orellana, whose vague but

enthusiastic stories went to show that there existed a tribe of female warriors on the Rio Nhamunda, one of

From its commencement the Amazon is recognizable as destined to become a magnificent stream. There are

neither rapids nor obstacles of any sort until it reaches a defile where its course is slightly narrowed between

two picturesque and unequal precipices. No falls are met with until this point is reached, where it curves to

the eastward, and passes through the intermediary chain of the Andes. Hereabouts are a few waterfalls, were

it not for which the river would be navigable from its mouth to its source. As it is, however, according the

And from its first starting there is no lack of tributaries, which are themselves fed by subsidiary streams.

There is the Chinchipa, coming from the northeast, on its left. On its right it is joined by the Chachapoyas,

coming from the northeast. On the left we have the Marona and the Pastuca; and the Guallaga comes in from

the right near the mission station of Laguna. On the left there comes the Chambyra and the Tigr�, flowing

from the northeast; and on the right the Huallaga, which joins the main stream twentyeight hundred miles

from the Atlantic, and can be ascended by steamboats for over two hundred miles into the very heart of Peru.

To the right, again, near the mission of San Joachim d'Omaguas, just where the upper basin terminates, and

after flowing majestically across the pampas of Sacramento, it receives the magnificent Ucayali, the great

artery which, fed by numerous affluents, descends from Lake Chucuito, in the northeast of Arica.

Such are the principal branches above the village of Iquitos. Down the stream the tributaries become so

considerable that the beds of most European rivers would fail to contain them. But the mouths of these

auxiliary waters Joam Garral and his people will pass as they journey down the Amazon.

To the beauties of this unrivaled river, which waters the finest country in the world, and keeps along its whole

course at a few degrees to the south of the equator, there is to be added another quality, possessed by neither

the Nile, the Mississippi, nor the Livingstoneor, in other words, the old CongoZairaLualabaand that

is (although some illinformed travelers have stated to the contrary) that the Amazon crosses a most healthy

part of South America. Its basin is constantly swept by westerly winds. It is not a narrow valley surrounded

by high mountains which border its banks, but a huge plain, measuring three hundred and fifty leagues from

north ot south, scarcely varied with a few knolls, whose whole extent the atmospheric currents can traverse

Professor Agassiz very properly protested against the pretended unhealthiness o the climate of a country

which is destined to become one of the most active of the world's producers. According to him, "a soft and

gentle breeze is constantly observable, and produces an evaporation, thanks to which the temperature is kept

down, and the sun does not give out heat unchecked. The constancy of this refreshing breeze renders the

The Abb� Durand has likewise testified that if the temperature does not drop below 25 degrees Centigrade, it

never rises above 33 degrees, and this gives for the year a mean temperature of from 28 degrees to 29

After such statements we are safe in affirming that the basin of the Amazon has none of the burning heats of

The vast plain which serves for its valley is accessible over its whole extent to the generous breezes which

And the provinces to which the river has given its name have acknowledged right to call themselves the

In the sixteenth century Orellana, the lieutenant of one of the brothers Pizarro, descended the Rio Negro,

arrived on the main river in 1540, ventured without a guide across the unknown district, and, after eighteen

In 1636 and 1637 the Portuguese Pedro Texeira ascended the Amazon to Napo, with a fleet of fortyseven

In 1743 La Condamine, after having measured an arc of the meridian at the equator, left his companions

Bouguer and Godin des Odonais, embarked on the Chinchipe, descended it to its junction with the Mara�on,

reached the mouth at Napo on the 31st of July, just in time to observe an emersion of the first satellite of

Jupiterwhich allowed this Humboldt of the eighteenth century" to accurately determine the latitude and

longitude of the spotvisited the villages on both banks, and on the 6th of September arrived in front of the

fort of Para. This immense journey had important resultsnot only was the course of the Amazon made out

in scientific fashion, but it seemed almost certain that it communicated with the Orinoco.

Fiftyfive years later Humboldt and Bonpland completed the valuable work of La Condamine, and drew up

Since this period the Amazon itself and all its principal tributaries have been frequently visited.

In 1827 ListerMaw, in 1834 and 1835 Smyth, in 1844 the French lieutenant in command of the

"Boulonnaise," the Brazilian Valdez in 1840, the French "Paul Marcoy" from 1848 to 1860, the whimsical

painter Biard in 1859, Professor Agassiz in 1865 and 1866, in 1967 the Brazilian engineer Franz

KellerLinzenger, and lastly, in 1879 Doctor Crevaux, have explored the course of the river, ascended many

of its tributaries, and ascertained the navigability of its principal affluents.

But what has won the greatest honor for the Brazilian government is that on the 31st of July, 1857, after

numerous frontier disputes between France and Brazil, about the Guiana boundary, the course of the Amazon

was declared to be free and open to all flags; and, to make practice harmonize with theory, Brazil entered into

negotiations with the neighboring powers for the exploration of every riverroad in the basin of the Amazon.

Today lines of wellfound steamboats, which correspond direct with Liverpool, are plying on the river from

its mouth up to Manaos; others ascend to Iquitos; others by way of the Tapajoz, the Madeira, the Rio Negro,

One can easily imagine the progress which commerce will one day make in this immense and wealthy area,

But to this medal of the future there is a reverse. No progress can be accomplished without detriment to the

In face, on the Upper Amazon many Indian tribes have already disappeared, among others the Curicicurus

and the Sorimaos. On the Putumayo, if a few Yuris are still met with, the Yahuas have abandoned the district

to take refuge among some of the distant tributaries, and the Maoos have quitted its banks to wander in their

The Tunantins is almost depopulated, and there are only a few families of wandering Indians at the mouth of

the Jurua. The Teff� is almost deserted, and near the sources of the Japur there remained but the fragments of

the great nation of the Uma�a. The Coari is forsaken. There are but few Muras Indians on the banks of the

Purus. Of the ancient Manaos one can count but a wandering party or two. On the banks of the Rio Negro

there are only a few halfbreeds, Portuguese and natives, where a few years ago twentyfour different

Such is the law of progress. The Indians will disappear. Before the AngloSaxon race Australians and

Tasmanians have vanished. Before the conquerors of the Far West the North American Indians have been

wiped out. One day perhaps the Arabs will be annihilated by the colonization of the French.

But we must return to 1852. The means of communication, so numerous now, did not then exist, and the

journey of Joam Garral would require not less than four months, owing to the conditions under which it was

Hence this observation of Benito, while the two friends were watching the river as it gently flowed at their

"Manoel, my friend, if there is very little interval between our arrival at Belem and the moment of our

"Yes, Benito," said Manoel, "and very long as well, for Minha cannot by my wife until the end of the

THE GARRAL family were in high glee. The magnificent journey on the Amazon was to be undertaken

under conditions as agreeable as possible. Not only were the fazender and his family to start on a voyage for

several months, but, as we shall see, he was to be accompanied by a part of the staff of the farm.

In beholding every one happy around him, Joam forgot the anxieties which appeared to trouble his life. From

the day his decision was taken he had been another man, and when he busied himself about the preparations

for the expedition he regained his former activity. His people rejoiced exceedingly at seeing him again at

work. His moral self reacted against his physical self, and Joam again became the active, energetic man of his

earlier years, and moved about once more as though he had spent his life in the open air, under the

Moreover, the few weeks that were to precede his departure had been well employed.

At this period, as we have just remarked, the course of the Amazon was not yet furrowed by the numberless

steam vessels, which companies were only then thinking of putting into the river. The service was worked by

individuals on their own account alone, and often the boats were only employed in the business of the

These boats were either "ubas," canoes made from the trunk of a tree, hollowed out by fire, and finished with

the ax, pointed and light in front, and heavy and broad in the stern, able to carry from one to a dozen

paddlers, and of three or four tons burden: "egariteas," constructed on a larger scale, of broader design, and

leaving on each side a gangway for the rowers: or "jangada," rafts of no particular shape, propelled by a

triangular sail, and surmounted by a cabin of mud and straw, which served the Indian and his family for a

These three kinds of craft formed the lesser flotilla of the Amazon, and were only suited for a moderate

Larger vessels, however, existed, either "vigilingas," ranging from eight up to ten tons, with three masts

rigged with red sails, and which in calm weather were rowed by four long paddles not at all easy to work

against the stream; or "cobertas," of twenty tons burden, a kind of junk with a poop behind and a cabin down

below, with two masts and square sails of unequal size, and propelled, when the wind fell, by six long sweeps

But neither of these vessels satisfied Joam Garral. From the moment that he had resolved to descend the

Amazon he had thought of making the most of the voyage by carrying a huge convoy of goods into Para.

From this point of view there was no necessity to descend the river in a hurry. And the determination to

which he had come pleased every one, excepting, perhaps, Manoel, who would for very good reasons have

But though the means of transport devised by Joam were primitive in the extreme, he was going to take with

him a numerous following and abandon himself to the stream under exceptional conditions of comfort and

It would be, in truth, as if a part of the fazenda of Iquitos had been cut away from the bank and carried down

the Amazon with all that composed the family of the fazendermasters and servants, in their dwellings, their

The settlement of Iquitos included a part of those magnificent forests which, in the central districts of South

Joam Garral thoroughly understood the management of these woods, which were rich in the most precious

and diverse species adapted for joinery, cabinet work, ship building, and carpentry, and from them he

The river was there in front of him, and could it not be as safely and economically used as a railway if one

existed? So every year Joam Garral felled some hundreds of trees from his stock and formed immense rafts of

floating wood, of joists, beams, and slightly squared trunks, which were taken to Para in charge of capable

pilots who were thoroughly acquainted with the depths of the river and the direction of its currents.

This year Joam Garral decided to do as he had done in preceding years. Only, when the raft was made up, he

was going to leave to Benito all the detail of the trading part of the business. But there was no time to lose.

The beginning of June was the best season to start, for the waters, increased by the floods of the upper basin,

The first steps had thus to be taken without delay, for the raft was to be of unusual proportions. It would be

necessary to fell a halfmile square of the forest which was situated at the junction of the Nanay and the

Amazonthat is to say, the whole river side of the fazenda, to form the enormous mass, for such were the

It was in this jangada, safer than any other vessel of the country, larger than a hundred egariteas or vigilingas

coupled together, that Joam Garral proposed to embark with his family, his servants, and his merchandise.

"Excellent idea!" had cried Minha, clapping her hands, when she learned her father's scheme.

"Yes," said Yaquita, "and in that way we shall reach Belem without danger or fatigue."

"And during the stoppages we can have some hunting in the forests which line the banks," added Benito.

"Won't it take rather long?" observed Manoel; "could we not hit upon some quicker way of descending the

It would take some time, obviously, but the interested observation of the young doctor received no attention

Joam Garral then called in an Indian who was the principal manager of the fazenda.

It was a heavy task. There were about a hundred Indians and blacks, and during the first fortnight in May they

did wonders. Some people unaccustomed to these great tree massacres would perhaps have groaned to see

giants many hundred years old fall in a few hours beneath the axes of the woodmen; but there was such a

quantity on the banks of the river, up stream and down stream, even to the most distant points of the horizon,

that the felling of this halfmile of forest would scarcely leave an appreciable void.

The superintendent of the men, after receiving the instructions of Joam Garral, had first cleared the ground of

the creepers, brushwood, weeds, and arborescent plants which obstructed it. Before taking to the saw and the

ax they had armed themselves with a fellingsword, that indispensable tool of every one who desires to

penetrate the Amazonian forests, a large blade slightly curved, wide and flat, and two or three feet long, and

strongly handled, which the natives wield with consummate address. In a few hours, with the help of the

fellingsword, they had cleared the ground, cut down the underwood, and opened large gaps into the densest

In this way the work progressed. The ground was cleared in front of the woodmen. The old trunks were

divested of their clothing of creepers, cacti, ferns, mosses, and bromelias. They were stripped naked to the

Then the whole of the workers, before whom fled an innumerable crowd of monkeys who were hardly their

superiors in agility, slung themselves into the upper branches, sawing off the heavier boughs and cutting

down the topmost limbs, which had to be cleared away on the spot. Very soon there remained only a doomed

forest, with long bare stems, bereft of their crowns, through which the sun luxuriantly rayed on to the humid

There was not a single tree which could not be used for some work of skill, either in carpentry or

cabinetwork. There, shooting up like columns of ivory ringed with brown, were waxpalms one hundred

and twenty feet high, and four feet thick at their base; white chestnuts, which yield the threecornered nuts;

"murichis," unexcelled for building purposes; "barrigudos," measuring a couple of yards at the swelling,

which is found at a few feet above the earth, trees with shining russet bark dotted with gray tubercles, each

pointed stem of which supports a horizontal parasol; and "bombax" of superb stature, with its straight and

smooth white stem. Among these magnificent specimens of the Amazonian flora there fell many "quatibos"

whose rosy canopies towered above the neighboring trees, whose fruits are like little cups with rows of

chestnuts ranged within, and whose wood of clear violet is specially in demand for shipbuilding. And

besides there was the ironwood; and more particularly the "ibiriratea," nearly black in its skin, and so close

grained that of it the Indians make their battleaxes; "jacarandas," more precious than mahogany;

"c�salpinas," only now found in the depths of the old forests which have escaped the woodman's ax;

"sapucaias," one hundred and fifty feet high, buttressed by natural arches, which, starting from three yards

from their base, rejoin the tree some thirty feet up the stem, twining themselves round the trunk like the

filatures of a twisted column, whose head expands in a bouquet of vegetable fireworks made up of the

Three weeks after the work was begun not one was standing of all the trees which had covered the angle of

the Amazon and the Nanay. The clearance was complete. Joam Garral had not even had to bestir himself in

the demolition of a forest which it would take twenty or thirty years to replace. Not a stick of young or old

wood was left to mark the boundary of a future clearing, not even an angle to mark the limit of the

denudation. It was indeed a clean sweep; the trees were cut to the level of the earth, to wait the day when

their roots would be got out, over which the coming spring would still spread its verdant cloak.

This square space, washed on its sides by the waters of the river and its tributary, was destined to be cleared,

plowed, planted, and sown, and the following year fields of manioc, coffeeshrubs, sugarcanes, arrowroot,

The last week of the month had not arrived when the trunks, classified according to their varieties and

specific gravity, were symmetrically arranged on the bank of the Amazon, at the spot where the immense

jangada was to be guiltwhich, with the different habitations for the accommodation of the crew, would

become a veritable floating villageto wait the time when the waters of the river, swollen by the floods,

The whole time the work was going on Joam Garral had been engaged in superintending it. From the clearing

to the bank of the fazenda he had formed a large mound on which the portions of the raft were disposed, and

Yaquita was occupied with Cybele with the preparations for the departure, though the old negress could not

"But you will see things that you never saw before," Yaquita kept saying to her.

Minha and her favorite for their part took care of what more particularly concerned them. They were not

preparing for a simple voyage; for them it was a permanent departure, and there were a thousand details to

look after for settling in the other country in which the young mulatto was to live with the mistress to whom

she was so devotedly attached. Minha was a trifle sorrowful, but the joyous Lina was quite unaffected at

leaving Iquitos. Minha Valdez would be the same to her as Minha Garral, and to check her spirits she would

Benito had actively assisted his father in the work, which was on the point of completion. He commenced his

apprenticeship to the trade of a fazender, which would probably one day become his own, as he was about to

As for Manoel, he divided his time between the house, where Yaquita and her daughter were as busy as

possible, and the clearing, to which Benito fetched him rather oftener than he thought convenient, and on the

IT WAS a Sunday, the 26th of May, and the young people had made up their minds to take a holiday. The

weather was splendid, the heat being tempered by the refreshing breezes which blew from off the Cordilleras,

Benito and Manoel had offered to accompany Minha through the thick woods which bordered the right bank

It was, in a manner, a farewell visit to the charming environs of Iquitos. The young men went equipped for

the chase, but as sportsmen who had no intention of going far from their companions in pursuit of any game.

Manoel could be trusted for that, and the girlsfor Lina could not leave her mistresswent prepared for a

Neither Joam Garral nor Yaquita had time to go with them. For one reason the plan of the jangada was not

yet complete, and it was necessary that its construction should not be interrupted for a day, and another was

that Yaquita and Cybele, well seconded as they were by the domestics of the fazenda, had not an hour to lose.

Minha had accepted the offer with much pleasure, and so, after breakfast on the day we speak of, at about

eleven o'clock, the two young men and the two girls met on the bank at the angle where the two streams

joined. One of the blacks went with them. They all embarked in one of the ubas used in the service of the

farm, and after having passed between the islands of Iquitos and Parianta, they reached the right bank of the

They landed at a clump of superb treeferns, which were crowned, at a height of some thirty feet with a sort

of halo made of the dainty branches of green velvet and the delicate lacework of the drooping fronds.

"Well, Manoel," said Minha, "it is for me to do the honors of the forest; you are only a stranger in these

regions of the Upper Amazon. We are at home here, and you must allow me to do my duty, as mistress of the

"Dearest Minha," replied the young man, "you will be none the less mistress of your house in our town of

"Now, then," interrupted Benito, "you did not come here to exchange loving speeches, I imagine. Just forget

"Lina is right," answered Minha, who held out her hand to Manoel. "Try to forget! Forget! my brother

requires it. All is broken off! As long as this walk lasts we are not engaged: I am no more than the sister of

"Bravo! bravo! there are only strangers here," said the young mulatto, clapping her hands.

"Strangers who see each other for the first time," added the girl; "who meet, bow to"

"To whom have I the honor to speak, sir?" said she in the most serious manner possible.

"Oh, away with your nonsense!" cried Benito. "Stupid idea that I had! Be engaged, my friendsbe it as

"Always!" said Minha, from whom the word escaped so naturally that Lina's peals of laughter redoubled.

"Come along," said Benito, so as to get his sister out of her embarrassment; "if we walk on we shall not talk

"One moment, brother," she said. "You have seen how ready I am to obey you. You wished to oblige Manoel

and me to forget each other, so as not to spoil your walk. Very well; and now I am going to ask a sacrifice

from you so that you shall not spoil mine. Whether it pleases you or not, Benito, you must promise me to

"I forbid you to fire at any of these charming birdsany of the parrots, caciques, or curucus which are flying

about so happily among the trees! And the same interdiction with regard to the smaller game with which we

shall have to do today. If any ounce, jaguar, or such thing comes too near, well"

"If not, I will take Manoel's arm, and we shall save or lose ourselves, and you will be obliged to run after us."

"Well thenno!" said Benito; "I do not refuse; I will obey and annoy you. Come on!"

And so the four, followed by the black, struck under the splendid trees, whose thick foliage prevented the

There is nothing more magnificent than this part of the right bank of the Amazon. There, in such picturesque

confusion, so many different trees shoot up that it is possible to count more than a hundred different species

in a square mile. A forester could easily see that no woodman had been there with his hatchet or ax, for the

effects of a clearing are visible for many centuries afterward. If the new trees are even a hundred years old,

the general aspect still differs from what it was originally, for the lianas and other parasitic plants alter, and

The happy group moved then into the tall herbage, across the thickets and under the bushes, chatting and

laughing. In front, when the brambles were too thick, the negro, fellingsword in hand, cleared the way, and

Minha was right to intercede for the little winged world which flew about in the higher foliage, for the finest

representations of tropical ornithology were there to be seengreen parrots and clamorous parakeets, which

seemed to be the natural fruit of these gigantic trees; hummingbirds in all their varieties, lightblue and ruby

red; "tisauras" with long scissorslike tails, looking like detached flowers which the wind blew from branch

to branch; blackbirds, with orange plumage bound with brown; golden[edged beccaficos; and "sabias,"

black as crows; all united in a deafening concert of shrieks and whistles. The long beak of the toucan stood

out against the golden clusters of the "quiriris," and the treepeckers or woodpeckers of Brazil wagged their

little heads, speckled all over with their purple spots. It was truly a scene of enchantment.

But all were silent and went into hiding when above the tops of the trees there grated like a rusty weathercock

the "alma de gato" or "soul of the cat," a kind of light fawncolored sparrowhawk. If he proudly hooted,

displaying in the air the long white plumes of his tail, he in his turn meekly took to flight when in the loftier

heights there appeared the "gaviao," the large whiteheaded eagle, the terror of the whole winged population

Minha made Manoel admire the natural wonders which could not be found in their simplicity in the more

civilized provinces of the east. He listened to her more with his eyes than his ears, for the cries and the songs

of these thousands of birds were every now and then so penetrating that he was not able to hear what she said.

The noisy laughter of Lina was alone sufficiently shrill to ring out with its joyous note above every kind of

At the end of an hour they had scarcely gone a mile. As they left the river the trees assumed another aspect,

and the animal life was no longer met with near the ground, but at from sixty to eighty feet above, where

troops of monkeys chased each other along the higher branches. Here and there a few cones of the solar rays

shot down into the underwood. In fact, in these tropical forests light does not seem to be necessary for their

existence. The air is enough for the vegetable growth, whether it be large or small, tree or plant, and all the

heat required for the development of their sap is derived not from the surrounding atmosphere, but from the

And on the bromelias, grass plantains, orchids, cacti, and in short all the parasites which formed a little forest

beneath the large one, many marvelous insects were they tempted to pluck as though they had been genuine

blossomsnestors with blue wings like shimmering watered silk, leilu butterflies reflexed with gold and

striped with fringes of green, agrippina moths, ten inches long, with leaves for wings, maribunda bees, like

living emeralds set in sockets of gold, and legions of lampyrons or pyrophorus coleopters, valagumas with

breastplates of bronze, and green elytr�, with yellow light pouring from their eyes, who, when the night

"You are at home, Minha, or at least you say so," said Benito, "and that is the way you talk of your riches!"

"Sneer away, little brother!" replied Minha; "such beautiful things are only lent to us; is it not so, Manoel?

"Let Benito laugh on, Minha," said Manoel. "He hides it very well, but he is a poet himself when his time

comes, and he admires as much as we do all these beauties of nature. Only when his gun is on his arm,

We may confess, however, that in forbidding him to use his gun Minha had imposed on him a genuine

privation. There was no lack of game in the woods, and several magnificent opportunities he had declined

In some of the less wooded parts, in places where the breaks were tolerably spacious, they saw several pairs

of ostriches, of the species known as "naudus," from for to five feet high, accompanied by their inseparable

"seriemas," a sort of turkey, infinitely better from an edible point of view than the huge birds they escort.

"See what that wretched promise costs me," sighed Benito, as, at a gesture from his sister, he replaced under

"We ought to respect the seriemas," said Manoel, "for they are great destroyers of the snakes."

"Just as we ought to respect the snakes," replied Benito, "because they eat the noxious insects, and just as we

ought the insects because they live on smaller insects more offensive still. At that rate we ought to respect

But the instinct of the young sportsman was about to be put to a still more rigorous trial. The woods became

of a sudden full of game. Swift stags and graceful roebucks scampered off beneath the bushes, and a

wellaimed bullet would assuredly have stopped them. Here and there turkeys showed themselves with their

milk and coffeecolored plumage; and peccaries, a sort of wild pig highly appreciated by lovers of venison,

and agouties, which are the hares and rabbits of Central America; and tatous belonging to the order of

And truly Benito showed more than virtue, and even genuine heroism, when he came across some tapirs,

called "antas" in Brazil, diminutives of the elephant, already nearly undiscoverable on the banks of the Upper

Amazon and its tributaries, pachyderms so dear to the hunters for their rarity, so appreciated by the

gourmands for their meat, superior far to beef, and above all for the protuberance on the nape of the neck,

His gun almost burned his fingers, but faithful to his promise he kept it quiet.

But yetand he cautioned his sister about thisthe gun would go off in spite of him, and probably register

a masterstroke in sporting annals, if within range there should come a "tamandoa assa," a kind of large and

Happily the big anteater did not show himself, neither did any panthers, leopards, jaguars, guepars, or

cougars, called indifferently ounces in South America, and to whom it is not advisable to get too near.

"After all," said Benito, who stopped for an instant, "to walk is very well, but to walk without an object"

"Without an object!" replied his sister; "but our object is to see, to admire, to visit for the last time these

forests of Central America, which we shall not find again in Para, and to bid them a fast farewell."

"An idea of Lina's can be no other than a silly one," said Benito, shaking his head.

"It is unkind, brother," said Minha, "to make fun of Lina when she has been thinking how to give our walk

And Lina pointed to a liana of the "cipos" kind, twisted round a gigantic sensitive mimosa, whose leaves,

"I proposed," replied Minha, "that we try to follow that liana to its very end."

"It is an idea, and it is an object!" observed Benito, "to follow this liana, no matter what may be the obstacles,

"Come on, then!" replied her brother; "you say that Lina is absurd so as to say that Benito is absurd to

"Well, both of you are absurd, if that will amuse you," returned Minha. "Let us follow the liana!"

"Ah, Manoel! you would not speak like that if you were already on your way and Minha was waiting for you

"I am silent," replied Manoel; "I have no more to say. I obey. Let us follow the liana!"

This vegetable might take them far if they determined to follow it to its extremity, like the thread of Ariadne,

as far almost as that which the heiress of Minos used to lead her from the labyrinth, and perhaps entangle

It was in fact a creeper of the salses family, one of the cipos known under the name of the red "japicanga,"

whose length sometimes measures several miles. But, after all, they could leave it when they liked.

The cipo passed from one tree to another without breaking its continuity, sometimes twisting round the

trunks, sometimes garlanding the branches, here jumping form a dragontree to a rosewood, then from a

gigantic chestnut, the "Bertholletia excelsa," to some of the wine palms, "baccabas," whose branches have

been appropriately compared by Agassiz to long sticks of coral flecked with green. Here round "tucumas," or

ficuses, capriciously twisted like centenarian olivetrees, and of which Brazil had fiftyfour varieties; here

round the kinds of euphorbias, which produce caoutchouc, "gualtes," noble palmtrees, with slender,

graceful, and glossy stems; and cacaotrees, which shoot up of their own accord on the banks of the Amazon

and its tributaries, having different melastomas, some with red flowers and others ornamented with panicles

But the halts! the shouts of cheating! when the happy company thought they had lost their guiding thread! For

it was necessary to go back and disentangle it from the knot of parasitic plants.

"You are wrong," replied Minha; "that is not it, that is a liana of another kind."

Then the black on one side and Benito on the other would rush at the trees and clamber up to the branches

Now nothing was assuredly less easy in that jumble of knots, among which twisted the liana in the middle of

bromelias, "karatas," armed with their sharp prickles, orchids with rosy flowers and violet lips the size of

gloves, and oncidiums more tangled than a skein of worsted between a kitten's paws.

And then when the liana ran down again to the ground the difficulty of picking it out under the mass of

lycopods, largeleaved heliconias, rosytasseled calliandras, rhipsalas encircling it like the thread on an

electric reel, between the knots of the large white ipomas, under the fleshy stems of the vanilla, and in the

And when the cipo was found again what shouts of joy, and how they resumed the walk for an instant

For an hour the young people had already been advancing, and nothing had happened to warn them that they

They shook the liana with vigor, but it would not give, and the birds flew away in hundreds, and the monkeys

If a thicket barred the road the fellingsword cut a deep gap, and the group passed in. If it was a high rock,

carpeted with verdure, over which the liana twisted like a serpent, they climbed it and passed on.

A large break now appeared. There, in the more open air, which is as necessary to it as the light of the sun,

the tree of the tropics, par excellence, which, according to Humboldt, "accompanies man in the infancy of his

civilization," the great provider of the inhabitant of the torrid zones, a bananatree, was standing alone. The

long festoon of the liana curled round its higher branches, moving away to the other side of the clearing, and

"No; a thousand times no!" cried Benito, "not without having reached the end of it!"

And they plunged more deeply into the forest, which, becoming clearer, allowed them to advance more

Besides, the cipo bore away to the north, and toward the river. It became less inconvenient to follow, seeing

that they approached the right bank, and it would be easy to get back afterward.

A quarter of an hour later they all stopped at the foot of a ravine in front of a small tributary of the Amazon.

But a bridge of lianas, made of "bejucos," twined together by their interlacing branches, crossed the stream.

The cipo, dividing into two strings, served for a handrail, and passed from one bank to the other.

Benito, all the time in front, had already stepped on the swinging floor of this vegetable bridge.

"Staystay, Minha!" he said, "Benito may go further if he likes, but let us remain here."

"No! Come on, come on, dear mistress!" said Lina. "Don't be afraid, the liana is getting thinner; we shall get

And they all cleared the bridge, which swayed above the ravine like a swing, and plunged again beneath the

But they had not proceeded for ten minutes along the interminable cipo, in the direction of the river, when

"No," replied Benito; "but we had better advance with care. Look!" and Benito pointed to the cipo which, lost

And Benito, cocking his gun, motioned them to let him go on a bit, and stepped about ten paces to the front.

Suddenly Benito raised a shout, and they saw him rush toward a tree; they all ran as well.

A man, hanging by the neck, struggled at the end of the liana, which, supple as a cord, had formed into a

slipknot, and the shakings came from the jerks into which he still agitated it in the last convulsions of his

Benito threw himself on the unfortunate fellow, and with a cut of his huntingknife severed the cipo.

The man slipped on to the ground. Manoel leaned over him, to try and recall him to life, if it was not too late.

"Mr. Manoel! Mr. Manoel! cried Lina. "He breathes again! His heart beats; you must save him."

He was about thirty years old, a white, clothed badly enough, much emaciated, and he seemed to have

At his feet were an empty flask, thrown on the ground, and a cup and ball in palm wood, of which the ball,

"To hang himself! to hang himself!" repeated Lina, "and young still! What could have driven him to do such

But the attempts of Manoel had not been long in bringing the luckless wight to life again, and he opened his

eyes and gave an "ahem!" so vigorous and unexpected that Lina, frightened, replied to his cry with another.

"Wait a minute and I will recall myself," said he, passing his hand over his forehead. "I am known as

Fragoso, at your service; and I am still able to curl and cut your hair, to shave you, and to make you

comfortable according to all the rules of my art. I am a barber, so to speak more truly, the most desperate of

"What would you have, my gallant sir?" replied Fragoso, with a smile; "a moment of despair, which I would

have duly regretted had the regrets been in another world! But eight hundred leagues of country to traverse,

and not a coin in my pouch, was not very comforting! I had lost courage obviously."

To conclude, Fragoso had a good and pleasing figure, and as he recovered it was evident that he was of a

lively disposition. He was one of those wandering barbers who travel on the banks of the Upper Amazon,

going from village to village, and putting the resources of their art at the service of negroes, negresses,

But poor Fragoso, abandoned and miserable, having eaten nothing for forty hours, astray in the forest, had for

"My friend," said Benito to him, "you will go back with us to the fazenda of Iquitos?"

"With pleasure," replied Fragoso; "you cut me down and I belong to you. I must somehow be dependent."

"Well, dear mistress, don't you think we did well to continue our walk?" asked Lina.

"Never mind," said Benito; "I never thought that we should finish by finding a man at the end of the cipo."

"And, above all, a barber in difficulties, and on the road to hang himself!" replied Fragoso.

"The poor fellow, who was now wide awake, was told about what had passed. He warmly thanked Lina for

the good idea she had had of following the liana, and they all started on the road to the fazenda, where

Fragoso was received in a way that gave him neither wish nor want to try his wretched task again.

THE HALFMILE square of forest was cleared. With the carpenters remained the task of arranging in the

And an easy task it was. Under the direction of Joam Garral the Indians displayed their incomparable

ingenuity. In everything connected with housebuilding or shipbuilding these natives are, it must be

admitted, astonishing workmen. They have only an ax and a saw, and they work on woods so hard that the

edge of their tools gets absolutely jagged; yet they square up trunks, shape beams out of enormous stems, and

get out of them joists and planking without the aid of any machinery whatever, and, endowed with prodigious

natural ability, do all these things easily with their skilled and patient hands.

The trees had not been launched into the Amazon to begin with; Joam Garral was accustomed to proceed in a

different way. The whole mass of trunks was symmetrically arranged on a flat part of the bank, which he had

There it was that the jangada was to be built; thence it was that the Amazon was to float it when the time

And here an explanatory note is necessary in regard to the geography of this immense body of water, and

more especially as relating to a singular phenomenon which the riverside inhabitants describe from personal

The two rivers which are, perhaps, more extensive than the great artery of Brazil, the Nile and the

MissouriMississippi, flow one from south to north across the African continent, the other from north to

south through North America. They cross districts of many different latitudes, and consequently of many

The Amazon, on the contrary, is entirely comprisedat least it is from the point where it turns to the east, on

the frontiers of Ecuador and Perubetween the second and fourth parallels of south latitude. Hence this

immense river system is under the same climatic conditions during the whole of its course.

In these parts there are two distinct seasons during which rain falls. In the north of Brazil the rainy season is

in September; in the south it occurs in March. Consequently the righthand tributaries and the lefthand

tributaries bring down their floods at halfyearly intervals, and hence the level of the Amazon, after reaching

This Joam Garral knew by experience, and he intended to profit by the phenomenon to launch the jangada,

after having built it in comfort on the river bank. In fact, between the mean and the higher level the height of

the Amazon could vary as much as forty feet, and between the mean and the lower level as much as thirty

The building was commenced without delay. Along the huge bank the trunks were got into place according to

their sizes and floating power, which of course had to be taken into account, as among these thick and heavy

woods there were many whose specific gravity was but little below that of water.

The first layer was entirely composed of trunks laid side by side. A little interval had to be left between them,

and they were bound together by transverse beams, which assured the solidity of the whole. "Pia�aba" ropes

strapped them together as firmly as any chain cables could have done. This material, which consists of the

ramicles of a certain palmtree growing very abundantly on the river banks, is in universal use in the district.

Pia�aba floats, resists immersion, and is cheaply madevery good reasons for causing it to be valuable, and

Above this double row of trunks and beams were disposed the joists and planks which formed the floor of the

jangada, and rose about thirty inches above the load waterline. The bulk was enormous, as we must confess

when it is considered that the raft measured a thousand feet long and sixty broad, and thus had a superificies

of sixty thousand square feet. They were, in fact, about to commit a whole forest to the Amazon.

The work of building was conducted under the immediate direction of Joam Garral. But when that part was

finished the question of arrangement was submitted to the discussion of all, including even the gallant

The barber had never been so happy as since the day when he had been received by the hospitable family.

Joam Garral had offered to take him to Para, on the road to which he was when the liana, according to his

account, had seized him by the neck and brought him up with a round turn. Fragoso had accepted the offer,

thanked him from the bottom of his heart, and ever since had sought to make himself useful in a thousand

ways. He was a very intelligent fellowwhat one might call a "double righthander"that is to say, he

could do everything, and could do everything well. As merry as Lina, always singing, and always ready with

But it was with the young mulatto that he claimed to have contracted the heaviest obligation.

"A famous idea that of yours, Miss Lina," he was constantly saying, "to play at 'following the liana!' It is a

capital game even if you do not always find a poor chap of a barber at the end!"

"Quite a chance, Mr. Fragoso," would laughingly reply Lina; "I assure you, you owe me nothing!"

"What! nothing! I owe you my life, and I want it prolonged for a hundred years, and that my recollection of

the fact may endure even longer! You see, it is not my trade to be hanged! If I tried my hand at it, it was

through necessity. But, on consideration, I would rather die of hunger, and before quite going off I should try

a little pasturage with the brutes! As for this liana, it is a lien between us, and so you will see!"

The conversation generally took a joking turn, but at the bottom Fragoso was very grateful to the mulatto for

having taken the initiative in his rescue, and Lina was not insensible to the attentions of the brave fellow, who

was as straightforward, frank, and goodlooking as she was. Their friendship gave rise to many a pleasant,

To return to the Jangada. After some discussion it was decided, as the voyage was to be of some months'

duration, to make it as complete and comfortable as possible. The Garral family, comprising the father,

mother, daughter, Benito, Manoel, and the servants, Cybele and Lina, were to live in a separate house. In

addition to these, there were to go forty Indians, forty blacks, Fragoso, and the pilot who was to take charge

Though the crew was large, it was not more than sufficient for the service on board. To work the jangada

along the windings of the river and between the hundreds of islands and islets which lay in its course required

fully as many as were taken, for if the current furnished the motive power, it had nothing to do with the

steering, and the hundred and sixty arms were no more than were necessary to work the long boathooks by

In the first place, then, in the hinder part of the jangada they built the master's house. It was arranged to

contain several bedrooms and a large dininghall. One of the rooms was destined for Joam and his wife,

another for Lina and Cybele near those of their mistresses, and a third room for Benito and Manoel. Minha

had a room away from the others, which was not by any means the least comfortably designed.

This, the principal house, was carefully made of weatherboarding, saturated with boiling resin, and thus

rendered watertight throughout. It was capitally lighted with windows on all sides. In front, the

entrancedoor gave immediate access to the common room. A light veranda, resting on slender bamboos,

protected the exterior from the direct action of the solar rays. The whole was painted a lightocher color,

which reflected the heat instead of absorbing it, and kept down the temperature of the interior.

But when the heavy work, so to speak, had been completed, Minha intervened with:

"Father, now your care has inclosed and covered us, you must allow us to arrange our dwelling to please

ourselves. The outside belongs to you, the inside to us. Mother and I would like it to be as though our house

at the fazenda went with us on the journey, so as to make you fancy that we had never left Iquitos!"

"Do just as you like, Minha," replied Joam Garral, smiling in the sad way he often did.

"And that will do us honor, father. It ought to, for the sake of the splendid country we are going

throughwhich is yours, by the way, and into which you are to enter after so many years' absence."

"Yes, Minha; yes," replied Joam. "It is rather as if we were returning from exilevoluntary exile! Do your

On Minha and Lina, to whom were added of their own free will Manoel on the one side and Fragoso on the

other, devolved the care of decorating the inside of the house. With some imagination and a little artistic

The best furniture of the fazenda naturally found its place within, as after arriving in Para they could easily

return it by one of the igariteos. Tables, bamboo easychairs, cane sofas, carved wood shelves, everything

that constituted the charming furniture of the tropics, was disposed with taste about the floating home. No

one is likely to imagine that the walls remained bare. The boards were hidden beneath hangings of most

agreeable variety. These hangings were made of valuable bark, that of the "tuturis," which is raised up in

large folds like the brocades and damasks and softest and richest materials of our modern looms. On the

floors of the rooms were jaguar skins, with wonderful spots, and thick monkey furs of exquisite fleeciness.

Light curtains of the russet silk, produced by the "sumauma," hung from the windows. The beds, enveloped

in mosquito curtains, had their pillows, mattresses, and bolsters filled with that fresh and elastic substance

Throughout on the shelves and sidetables were little odds and ends, brought from Rio Janeiro or Belem,

those most precious to Minha being such as had come from Manoel. What could be more pleasing in her eyes

than the knickknacks given by a loving hand which spoke to her without saying anything?

In a few days the interior was completed, and it looked just like the interior of the fazenda. A stationary house

under a lovely clump of trees on the borders of some beautiful river! Until it descended between the banks of

the larger stream it would not be out of keeping with the picturesque landscape which stretched away on each

We may add that the exterior of the house was no less charming than the interior.

In fact, on the outside the young fellows had given free scope to their taste and imagination.

From the basement to the roof it was literally covered with foliage. A confused mass of orchids, bromelias,

and climbing plants, all in flower, rooted in boxes of excellent soil hidden beneath masses of verdure. The

trunk of some ficus or mimosa was never covered by a more startlingly tropical attire. What whimsical

climbersruby red and golden yellow, with variegated clusters and tangled twigsturned over the brackets,

under the ridges, on the rafters of the roof, and across the lintels of the doors! They had brought them

wholesale from the woods in the neighborhood of the fazenda. A huge liana bound all the parasites together;

several times it made the round of the house, clinging on to every angle, encircling every projection, forking,

uniting, it everywhere threw out its irregular branchlets, and allowed not a bit of the house to be seen beneath

As a delicate piece of attention, the author of which can be easily recognized, the end of the cipo spread out

before the very window of the young mulatto, as though a long arm was forever holding a bouquet of fresh

To sum up, it was as charming as could be; and as Yaquita, her daughter, and Lina were content, we need say

"Why not?" replied Manoel. "Transported on to this solid platform, with some good soil, I am sure they

would do well, and we would have no change of climate to fear for them, as the Amazon flows all the time

"Besides," said Benito, "every day islets of verdure, torn from the banks, go drifting down the river. Do they

not pass along with their trees, bushes, thickets, rocks, and fields, to lose themselves in the Atlantic eight

hundred leagues away? Why, then, should we not transform our raft into a floating garden?"

"Yes, a forest!" cried the young mulatto; "a forest with its birds and its monkeys"

"But where are you going to, Fragoso?" said Minha, seeing the active barber making a rush at the bank.

"Useless, my friend," answered the smiling Minha. "Manoel has given me a nosegay and I am quite content.

It is true," she added, pointing to the house hidden beneath the flowers, "that he has hidden our house in his

WHILE THE master's house was being constructed, Joam Garral was also busied in the arrangement of the

outbuildings, comprising the kitchen, and offices in which provisions of all kinds were intended to be

In the first place, there was an important stock of the roots of that little tree, some six or ten feet in height,

which yields the manioc, and which form the principal food of the inhabitants of these intertropical

countries. The root, very much like a long black radish, grows in clumps like potatoes. If it is not poisonous

in Africa, it is certain that in South America it contains a more noxious juice, which it is necessary to

previously get rid of by pressure. When this result is obtained, the root is reduced to flour, and is then used in

On board the jangada there was a huge pile of this useful product destined for general consumption.

As for preserved meats, not forgetting a whole flock of sheep, kept in a special stable built in the front, they

consisted principally of a quantity of the "presunto" hams of the district, which are of firstclass quality; but

the guns of the young fellows and of some of the Indians were reckoned on for additional supplies, excellent

hunters as they were, to whom there was likely to be no lack of game on the islands and in the forests

bordering on the stream. The river was expected to furnish its daily quota; prawns, which ought rather to be

called crawfish; "tambagus," the finest fish in the district, of a flavor superior to that of salmon, to which it is

often compared; "pirarucus" with red scales, as large as sturgeons, which when salted are used in great

quantities throughout Brazil; "candirus," awkward to capture, but good to eat; "piranhas," or devilfish,

striped with red bands, and thirty inches long; turtles large and small, which are counted by millions, and

form so large a part of the food of the natives; some of every one of these things it was hoped would figure in

For beverages they had a good store of the best that country produced; "caysuma" or "machachera," from the

Upper and Lower Amazon, an agreeable liquor of slightly acidulated taste, which is distilled from the boiled

root of the sweet manioc; "beiju," from Brazil, a sort of national brandy, the "chica" of Peru; the mazato" of

the Ucayali, extracted from the boiled fruits of the bananatree, pressed and fermented; "guarana," a kind of

paste made from the double almond of the "paulliniasorbilis," a genuine tablet of chocolate so far as its color

goes, which is reduced to a fine powder, and with the addition of water yields an excellent drink.

And this was not all. There is in these countries a species of dark violet wine, which is got from the juice of

the palm, and the aromatic flavor of this "assais" is greatly appreciated by the Brazilans, and of it there were

on board a respectable number of frasques (each holding a little more than half a gallon), which would

The special cellar of the jangada did honor to Benito, who had been appointed its commanderinchief.

Several hundred bottles of sherry, port, and letubal recalled names dear to the earlier conquerors of South

America. In addition, the young butler had stored away certain demijohns, holding half a dozen gallons each,

of excellent "tafia," a sugared brandy a trifle more pronounced in taste than the national beiju.

As far as tobacco was concerned, there was none of that coarse kind which usually contents the natives of the

Amazonian basin. It all came direct from Villa Bella da Imperatrizor, in other words, fro the district in

The principal habitation, with its annexeskitchen, offices, and cellarswas placed in the rearor, let us

say, stern of the craftand formed a part reserved for the Garral family and their personal servants.

In the center the huts for the Indians and the blacks had been erected. The staff were thus placed under the

same conditions as at the fazenda of Iquitos, and would always be able to work under the direction of the

To house the crew a good many huts were required, and these gave to the jangada the appearance of a small

village got adrift, and, to tell the truth, it was a better built and better peopled village than many of those on

For the Indians Joam Garral had designed regular cabinshuts without walls, with only light poles

supporting the roof of foliage. The air circulated freely throughout these open constructions and swung the

hammock suspended in the interior, and the natives, among whom were three or four complete families, with

The blacks here found their customary sheds. They differed from the cabins by being closed in on their four

faces, of which only one gave access to the interior. The Indians, accustomed to live in the open air, free and

untrammeled, were not able to accustom themselves to the imprisonment of the ajoupas, which agreed better

In the bow regular warehouses had arisen, containing the goods which Joam Garral was carrying to Belem at

There, in vast storerooms, under the direction of Benito, the rich cargo had been placed with as much order as

In the first place, seven thousand arrobas of caoutchouc, each of about thirty pounds, composed the most

precious part of the cargo, for every pound of it was worth from three to four francs. The jangada also took

fifty hundredweight of sarsaparilla, a smilax which forms an important branch of foreign trade throughout the

Amazon districts, and is getting rarer and rarer along the banks of the river, so that the natives are very

careful to spare the stems when they gather them. Tonquin bans, known in Brazil under the name of

"cumarus," and used in the manufacture of certain essential oils; sassafras, from which is extracted a precious

balsam for wounds; bales of dyeing plants, cases of several gums, and a quantity of precious woods,

completed a welladapted cargo for lucrative and easy sale in the provinces of Para.

Some may feel astonished that the number of Indians and negroes embarked were only sufficient to work the

raft, and that a larger number were not taken in case of an attack by the riverside Indians.

Such would have been useless. The natives of Central America are not to be feared in the least, and the times

are quite changed since it was necessary to provide against their aggressions. The Indians along the river

belong to peaceable tribes, and the fiercest of them have retired before the advancing civilization, and drawn

further and further away from the river and its tributaries. Negro deserters, escaped from the penal colonies of

Brazil, England, Holland, or France, are alone to be feared. But there are only a small number of these

fugitives, they only move in isolated groups across the savannahs or the woods, and the jangada was, in a

On the other hand, there were a number of settlements on the rivertowns, villages, and missions. The

immense stream no longer traverses a desert, but a basin which is being colonized day by day. Danger was

To conclude our description of the jangada, we have only to speak of one or two erections of different kinds

In the bow was the cabin of the pilotwe say in the bow, and not at the stern, where the helmsman is

generally found. In navigating under such circumstances a rudder is of no use. Long oars have no effect on a

raft of such dimensions, even when worked with a hundred sturdy arms. It was from the sides, by means of

long boathooks or props thrust against the bed of the stream, that the jangada was kept in the current, and had

its direction altered when going astray. By this means they could range alongside either bank, if they wished

for any reason to come to a halt. Three or four ubas, and two pirogues, with the necessary rigging, were

carried on board, and afforded easy communications with the banks. The pilot had to look after the channels

of the river, the deviations of the current, the eddies which it was necessary to avoid, the creeks or bays which

If the pilot was the material director of this immense machinefor can we not justly call it so?another

personage was its spiritual director; this was Padre Passanha, who had charge of the mission at Iquitos.

A religious family, like that of Joam Garral's, had availed themselves enthusiastically of this occasion of

Padre Passanha, then aged seventy, was a man of great worth, full of evangelical fervor, charitable and good,

and in countries where the representatives of religion are not always examples of the virtues, he stood out as

the accomplished type of those great missionaries who have done so much for civilization in the interior of

For fifty years Padre Passanha had lived at Iquitos, in the mission of which he was the chief. He was loved by

all, and worthily so. The Garral family held him in great esteem; it was he who had married the daughter of

Farmer Magalha�s to the clerk who had been received at the fazenda. He had known the children from birth;

he had baptized them, educated them, and hoped to give each of them the nuptial blessing.

The age of the padre did not allow of his exercising his important ministry any longer. The horn of retreat for

him had sounded; he was about to be replaced at Iquitos by a younger missionary, and he was preparing to

return to Para, to end his days in one of those convents which are reserved for the old servants of God.

What better occasion could offer than that of descending the river with the family which was as his own?

They had proposed it to him, and he had accepted, and when arrived at Belem he was to marry the young

But if Padre Passanha during the course of the voyage was to take his meals with the family, Joam Garral

desired to build for him a dwelling apart, and heaven knows what care Yaquita and her daughter took to make

him comfortable! Assuredly the good old priest had never been so lodged in his modest parsonage!

The chapel then was built in the center of the jangada, and a little bell surmounted it.

It was small enough, undoubtedly, and it could not hold the whole of the crew, but it was richly decorated,

and if Joam Garral found his own house on the raft, Padre Passanha had no cause to regret the

Such was the wonderful structure which was going down the Amazon. It was then on the bank waiting till the

flood came to carry it away. From the observation and calculation of the rising it would seem as though there

The pilot arrived the evening before. He was a man about fifty, well up in his profession, but rather fond of

drink. Such as he was, Joam Garral in large matters at different times had employed him to take his rafts to

It is as well to add that Araujothat was his namenever saw better than when he had imbibed a few

glasses of tafia; and he never did any work at all without a certain demijohn of that liquor, to which he paid

The rise of the flood had clearly manifested itself for several days. From minute to minute the level of the

river rose, and during the twentyfour hours which preceded the maximum the waters covered the bank on

As soon as the movement was assured, and there could be no error as to the height to which the flood would

rise, all those interested in the undertaking were seized with no little excitement. For if through some

inexplicable cause the waters of the Amazon did not rise sufficiently to flood the jangada, it would all have to

be built over again. But as the fall of the river would be very rapid it would take long months before similar

On the 5th of June, toward the evening, the future passengers of the jangada were collected on a plateau

which was about a hundred feet above the bank, and waited for the hour with an anxiety quite intelligible.

There were Yaquita, her daughter, Manoel Valdez, Padre Passanha, Benito, Lina, Fragoso, Cybele, and some

Fragoso could not keep himself still; he went and he came, he ran down the bank and ran up the plateau, he

noted the points of the river gauge, and shouted "Hurrah!" as the water crept up.

"It will swim, it will swim!" he shouted. "the raft which is to take us to Belem! It will float if all the cataracts

Joam Garral was on the raft with the pilot and some of the crew. It was for him to take all the necessary

measures at the critical moment. The jangada was moored to the bank with solid cables, so that it could not

Quite a tribe from one hundred and fifty to two hundred Indians, without counting the population of the

They were all keenly on the watch, and silence reigned over the impressionable crowd.

Toward five o'clock in the evening the water had reached a level higher than that of the night beforeby

more than a footand the bank had already entirely disappeared beneath the liquid covering.

A certain groaning arose among the planks of the enormous structure, but there was still wanting a few inches

For an hour the groanings increased. The joists grated on all sides. A struggle was going on in which little by

Toward halfpast six cries of joy arose. The jangada floated at last, and the current took it toward the middle

of the river, but, in obedience to the cables, it quietly took up its position near the bank at the moment that

Padre Passanha gave it his blessing, as if it were a vessel launched into the sea whose destinies are in the

ON THE 6th of June, the very next day, Joam Garral and his people bade goodby to the superintendent and

the Indians and negroes who were to stay behind at the fazenda. At six o'clock in the morning the jangada

received all its passengers, or rather inhabitants, and each of them took possession of his cabin, or perhaps we

The moment of departure had come. Araujo, the pilot, got into his place at the bow, and the crew, armed with

At the command of the pilot the ropes were eased off, and the poles applied to the bank so as to give the

jangada a start. The current was not long in seizing it, and coasting the left bank, the islands of Iquitos and

The voyage had commencedwhere would it finish? In Para, at Belem, eight hundred leagues from this little

Peruvian village, if nothing happened to modify the route. How would it finish? That was the secret of the

The weather was magnificent. A pleasant "pampero" tempered the ardor of the sunone of those winds

which in June or July come from off the Cordilleras, many hundred leagues away, after having swept across

the huge plain of the Sacramento. Had the raft been provided with masts and sails she would have felt the

effects of the breeze, and her speed would have been greater; but owing to the sinuosities of the river and its

abrupt changes, which they were bound to follow, they had had to renounce such assistance.

In a flat district like that through which the Amazon flows, which is almost a boundless plain, the gradient of

the river bed is scarcely perceptible. It has been calculated that between Tabatinga on the Brazilian frontier,

and the source of this huge body of water, the difference of level does not exceed a decimeter in each league.

It follows from this that the average speed of the current cannot be estimated at more than two leagues in

twentyfour hours, and sometimes, while the droughts are on, it is even less. However, during the period of

the floods it has been known to increase to between thirty and forty kilometers.

Happily, it was under these latter conditions that the jangada was to proceed; but, cumbrous in its

movements, it could not keep up to the speed of the current which ran past it. There are also to be taken into

account the stoppages occasioned by the bends in the river, the numerous islands which had to be rounded,

the shoals which had to be avoided, and the hours of halting, which were necessarily lost when the night was

too dark to advance securely, so that we cannot allow more than twentyfive kilometers for each twentyfour

In addition, the surface of the water is far from being completely clear. Trees still green, vegetable remains,

islets of plants constantly torn from the banks, formed quite a flotilla of fragments carried on by the currents,

The mouth of the Nanay was soon passed, and lost to sight behind a point on the left bank, which, with its

carpet of russet grasses tinted by the sun, formed a ruddy relief to the green forests on the horizon.

The jangada took the center of the stream between the numerous picturesque islands, of which there are a

Araujo, who did not forget to clear his vision and his memory by an occasional application to his demijohn,

maneuvered very ably when passing through this archipelago. At his word of command fifty poles from each

side of the raft were raised in the air, and struck the water with an automatic movement very curious to

While this was going on, Yaquita, aided by Lina and Cybele, was getting everything in order, and the Indian

As for the two young fellows and Minha, they were walking up and down in company with Padre Passanha,

and from time to time the lady stopped and watered the plants which were placed about the base of the

"No, my dear boy," replied the padre; "it is truly traveling with all one's belongings."

"And without any fatigue," added Manoel; "we might do hundreds of thousands of miles in this way."

"And," said Minha, "you do not repent having taken passage with us? Does it not seem to you as if we were

afloat on an island drifted quietly away from the bed of the river with its prairies and its trees? Only"

"Only we have made the island with our own hands; it belongs to us, and I prefer it to all the islands of the

"Yes, my daughter; and I absolve you from your pride. Besides, I am not allowed to scold you in the presence

"But, on the other hand," replied she, gayly, "you should teach Manoel to scold me when I deserve it. He is a

"Well, then, dear Minha," said Manoel, "I shall profit by that permission to remind you"

"That you were very busy in the library at the fazenda, and that you promised to make me very learned about

everything connected with the Upper Amazon. We know very little about it in Para, and here we have been

"Yes; what is the good of it?" repeated Benito. "What can be the use of remembering the hundreds of names

in the 'Tupi' dialect with which these islands are dressed out? It is enough to know them. The Americans are

"As they number the avenues and streets of their towns," replied Manoel. "Frankly, I don't care much for that

numerical system; it conveys nothing to the imaginationSixtyfourth Island or Sixtyfifth Island, any

"Yes, Manoel; though I am of somewhat the same way of thinking as my brother. But even if we do not know

their names, the islands of our great river are truly splendid! See how they rest under the shadows of those

gigantic palmtrees with their drooping leaves! And the girdle of reeds which encircles them through which a

pirogue can with difficulty make its way! And the mangrove trees, whose fantastic roots buttress them to the

bank like the claws of some gigantic crab! Yes, the islands are beautiful, but, beautiful as they are, they

"You will have an amiable companion," said the padre. "All the joy of the house goes away with you, my

"Brave little sister!" said Benito, "we shall miss her greatly, and the padre is right. However, if you do not

"She will stay with you, Benito," replied Manoel. "Believe me, I have a presentiment that we shall all be

The first day passed capitally; breakfast, dinner, siesta, walks, all took place as if Joam Garral and his people

During these twentyfour hours the mouths of the rivers Bacali, Chochio, Pucalppa, on the left of the stream,

and those of the rivers Itinicari, Maniti, Moyoc, Tucuya, and the islands of this name on the right, were

passed without accident. The night, lighted by the moon, allowed them to save a halt, and the giant raft glided

On the morrow, the 7th of June, the jangada breasted the banks of the village of Pucalppa, named also New

Oran. Old Oran, situated fifteen leagues down stream on the same left bank of the river, is almost abandoned

for the new settlement, whose population consists of Indians belonging to the Mayoruna and Orejone tribes.

Nothing can be more picturesque than this village with its ruddycolored banks, its unfinished church, its

cottages, whose chimneys are hidden amid the palms, and its two or three ubas halfstranded on the shore.

During the whole of the 7th of June the jangada continued to follow the left bank of the river, passing several

unknown tributaries of no importance. For a moment there was a chance of her grounding on the easterly

shore of the island of Sinicure; but the pilot, well served by the crew, warded off the danger and remained in

In the evening they arrived alongside a narrow island, called Napo Island, from the name of the river which

here comes in from the northnorthwest, and mingles its waters with those of the Amazon through a mouth

about eight hundred yards across, after having watered the territories of the Coto and Orejone Indians.

It was on the morning of the 7th of June that the jangada was abreast the little island of Mango, which causes

Several years later a French traveler, Paul Marcoy, went out to examine the color of the waters of this

tributary, which has been graphically compared to the cloudy greenish opal of absinthe. At the same time he

corrected some of the measurements of La Condamine. But then the mouth of the Napo was sensibly

increased by the floods and it was with a good deal of rapidity that its current, coming from the eastern slopes

of Cotopaxi, hurried fiercely to mingle itself with the tawny waters of the Amazon.

A few Indians had wandered to the mouth of this river. They were robust in build, of tall stature, with shaggy

hair, and had their noses pierced with a rod of palm, and the lobes of their ears lengthened to their shoulders

by the weight of heavy rings of precious wood. Some women were with them. None of them showed any

intention of coming on board. It is asserted that these natives are cannibals; but if that is trueand it is said

of many of the riverine tribesthere must have been more evidence for the cannibalism than we get today.

Some hours later the village of Bella Vista, situated on a somewhat lower bank, appeared, with its cluster of

magnificent trees, towering above a few huts roofed with straw, over which there drooped the large leaves of

Then the pilot, so as to follow a better current, which turned off from the bank, directed the raft toward the

right side of the river, which he had not yet approached. The maneuver was not accomplished without certain

difficulties, which were successfully overcome after a good many resorts to the demijohn.

This allowed them to notice in passing some of those numerous lagoons with black waters, which are

distributed along the course of the Amazon, and which often have no communication with the river. One of

these, bearing the name of the Lagoon of Oran, is of fair size, and receives the water by a large strait. In the

middle of the stream are scattered several islands and two or three islets curiously grouped; and on the

opposite bank Benito recognized the site of the ancient Oran, of which they could only see a few uncertain

During two days the jangada traveled sometimes under the left bank, sometimes under the right, according to

The passengers had already become used to this new life. Joam Garral, leaving to his son everything that

referred to the commercial side of the expedition, kept himself principally to his room, thinking and writing.

What he was writing about he told to nobody, not even Yaquita, and it seemed to have already assumed the

Benito, all observation, chatted with the pilot and acted as manager. Yaquita, her daughter, and Manoel,

nearly always formed a group apart, discussing their future projects just as they had walked and done in the

park of the fazenda. The life was, in fact, the same. Not quite, perhaps, to Benito, who had not yet found

occasion to participate in the pleasures of the chase. If, however, the forests of Iquitos failed him with their

wild beasts, agoutis, peccaries, and cabiais, the birds flew in flocks from the banks of the river and fearlessly

perched on the jangada. When they were of such quality as to figure fairly on the table, Benito shot them;

and, in the interest of all, his sister raised no objection; but if he came across any gray or yellow herons, or

red or white ibises, which haunt the sides, he spared them through love for Minha. One single species of

grebe, which is uneatable, found no grace in the eyes of the young merchant; this was the "caiarara," as quick

to dive as to swim or fly; a bird with a disagreeable cry, but whose down bears a high price in the different

At length, after having passed the village of Omaguas and the mouth of the Ambiacu, the jangada arrived at

As it was to remain here for some hours before nightfall, Benito disembarked, taking with him the

everready Fragoso, and the two sportsmen started off to beat the thickets in the environs of the little place.

An agouti and a cabiai, not to mention a dozen partridges, enriched the larder after this fortunate excursion.

At Pevas, where there is a population of two hundred and sixty inhabitants, Benito would perhaps have done

some trade with the lay brothers of the mission, who are at the same time wholesale merchants, but these had

just sent away some bales of sarsaparilla and arrobas of caoutchouc toward the Lower Amazon, and their

The jangada departed at daybreak, and passed the little archipelago of the Iatio and Cochiquinas islands, after

having left the village of the latter name on the right. Several mouths of smaller unnamed affluents showed

Many natives, with shaved heads, tattooed cheeks and foreheads, carrying plates of metal in the lobes of their

ears, noses, and lower lips, appeared for an instant on the shore. They were armed with arrows and blow

tubes, but made no use of them, and did not even attempt to communicate with the jangada.

DURING THE FEW days which followed nothing occurred worthy of note. The nights were so fine that the

long raft went on its way with the stream without even a halt. The two picturesque banks of the river seemed

to change like the panoramas of the theaters which unroll from one wing to another. By a kind of optical

illusion it appeared as though the raft was motionless between two moving pathways.

Benito had no shooting on the banks, for no halt was made, but game was very advantageously replaced by

A great variety of excellent fish were taken"pacos," "surubis," "gamitanas," of exquisite flavor, and several

of those large rays called "duridaris," with rosecolored stomachs and black backs armed with highly

poisonous darts. There were also collected by thousands those "candirus," a kind of small silurus, of which

many are microscopic, and which so frequently make a pincushion of the calves of the bather when he

The rich waters of the Amazon were also frequented by many other aquatic animals, which escorted the

There were the gigantic "priarucus," ten and twelve feet long, cuirassed with large scales with scarlet

borders, whose flesh was not much appreciated by the natives. Neither did they care to capture many of the

graceful dolphins which played about in hundreds, striking with their tails the planks of the raft, gamboling at

the bow and stern, and making the water alive with colored reflections and spurts of spray, which the

On the 16th of June the jangada, after fortunately clearing several shallows in approaching the banks, arrived

near the large island of San Pablo, and the following evening she stopped at the village of Moromoros, which

is situated on the left side of the Amazon. Twentyfour hours afterward, passing the mouths of the Atacoari

or Cochaor rather the "furo," or canal, which communicates with the lake of CabelloCocha on the right

bankshe put in at the rising ground of the mission of Cocha. This was the country of the Marahua Indians,

whose long floating hair, and mouths opening in the middle of a kind of fan made of the spines of

palmtrees, six inches long, give them a catlike looktheir endeavor being, according to Paul Marcoy, to

resemble the tiger, whose boldness, strength, and cunning they admire above everything. Several women

came with these Marahuas, smoking cigars, but holding the lighted ends in their teeth. All of them, like the

The mission of Cocha was then in charge of a Franciscan monk, who was anxious to visit Padre Passanha.

Joam Garral received him with a warm welcome, and offered him a seat at the dinnertable.

On that day was given a dinner which did honor to the Indian cook. The traditional soup of fragrant herbs;

cake, so often made to replace bread in Brazil, composed of the flour of the manioc thoroughly impregnated

with the gravy of meat and tomato yelly; poultry with rice, swimming in a sharp sauce made of vinegar and

"malagueta;" a dish of spiced herbs, and cold cake sprinkled with cinnamon, formed enough to tempt a poor

monk reduced to the ordinary meager fare of his parish. They tried all they could to detain him, and Yaquita

and her daughter did their utmost in persuasion. But the Franciscan had to visit on that evening an Indian who

was lying ill at Cocha, and he heartily thanked the hospitable family and departed, not without taking a few

For two days Araujo was very busy. The bed of the river gradually enlarged, but the islands became more

numerous, and the current, embarrassed by these obstacles, increased in strength. Great care was necessary in

passing between the islands of CabelloCocha, Tarapote, and Cacao. Many stoppages had to be made, and

occasionally they were obliged to pole off the jangada, which now and then threatened to run aground. Every

one assisted in the work, and it was under these difficult circumstances that, on the evening of the 20th of

Loreto is the last Peruvian town situated on the left bank of the river before arriving at the Brazilian frontier.

It is only a little village, composed of about twenty houses, grouped on a slightly undulating bank, formed of

It was in 1770 that this mission was founded by the Jesuit missionaries. The Ticuma Indians, who inhabit the

territories on the north of the river, are natives with ruddy skins, bushy hair, and striped designs on their

faces, making them look like the lacquer on a Chinese table. Both men and women are simply clothed, with

cotton bands bound round their things and stomachs. They are now not more than two hundred in number,

and on the banks of the Atacoari are found the last traces of a nation which was formerly so powerful under

At Loreto there also live a few Peruvian soldiers and two or three Portuguese merchants, trading in cotton

Benito went ashore, to buy, if possible, a few bales of this smilax, which is always so much in demand in the

markets of the Amazon. Joam Garral, occupied all the time in the work which gave him not a moment's rest,

did not stir. Yaquita, her daughter, and Manoel also remained on board. The mosquitoes of Loreto have a

deserved reputation for driving away such visitors as do not care to leave much of their blood with the

Manoel had a few appropriate words to say about these insects, and they were not of a nature to encourage an

"They say that all the new species which infest the banks of the Amazon collect at the village of Loreto. I

believe it, but do not wish to confirm it. There, Minha, you can take your choice between the gray mosquito,

the hairy mosquito, the whiteclawed mosquito, the dwarf mosquito, the trumpeter, the little fifer, the

urtiquis, the harlequin, the big black, and the red of the woods; or rather they make take their choice of you

for a little repast, and you will come back hardly recognizable! I fancy these bloodthirsty diptera guard the

Brazilian frontier considerably better than the povertystricken soldiers we see on the bank."

"But if everything is of use in nature," asked Minha, "what is the use of mosquitoes?"

"They minister to the happiness of entomologists," replied Manoel; "and I should be much embarrassed to

What Manoel had said of the Loreto mosquitoes was only too true. When Benito had finished his business

and returned on board, his face and hands were tattooed with thousands of red points, without counting some

chigoes, which, in spite of the leather of his boots, had introduced themselves beneath his toes.

"Let us set off this very instant," said Benito, "or these wretched insects will invade us, and the jangada will

"And we shall take them into Para," said Manoel, "where there are already quite enough for its own needs."

And so, in order not to pass even the night near the banks, the jangada pushed off into the stream.

On leaving Loreto the Amazon turns slightly toward the southwest, between the islands of Arava, Cuyari, and

Urucutea. The jangada then glided along the black waters of the Cajaru, as they mingled with the white

stream of the Amazon. After having passed this tributary on the left, it peacefully arrived during the evening

The setting of the sun on a clear horizon, free from all haze, announced one of those beautiful tropical nights

which are unknown in the temperate zones. A light breeze freshened the air; the moon arose in the

constellated depths of the sky, and for several hours took the place of the twilight which is absent from these

latitudes. But even during this period the stars shone with unequaled purity. The immense plain seemed to

stretch into the infinite like a sea, and at the extremity of the axis, which measures more than two hundred

thousand millions of leagues, there appeared on the north the single diamond of the pole star, on the south the

The trees on the left bank and on the island of Jahuma stood up in sharp black outline. There were

recognizable in the undecided silhouettes the trunks, or rather columns, of "copahus," which spread out in

umbrellas, groups of "sandis," from which is extracted the thick and sugared milk, intoxicating as wine itself,

and "vignaticos" eighty feet high, whose summits shake at the passage of the lightest currents of air. "What a

magnificent sermon are these forests of the Amazon!" has been justly said. Yes; and we might add, "What a

The birds were giving forth their last evening notes"bentivis," who hang their nests on the bankside

reeds; "niambus," a kind of partridge, whose song is composed of four notes, in perfect accord; "kamichis,"

with their plaintive melody; kingfishers, whose call responds like a signal to the last cry of their congeners;

"canindes," with their sonorous trumpets; and red macaws, who fold their wings in the foliage of the

On the jangada every one was at his post, in the attitude of repose. The pilot alone, standing in the bow,

showed his tall stature, scarcely defined in the earlier shadows. The watch, with his long pole on his shoulder,

reminded one of an encampment of Tartar horsemen. The Brazilian flag hung from the top of the staff in the

At eight o'clock the three first tinklings of the Angelus escaped from the bell of the little chapel. The three

tinklings of the second and third verses sounded in their turn, and the salutation was completed in the series

However, the family after this July day remained sitting under the veranda to breathe the fresh air from the

It had been so each evening, and while Joam Garral, always silent, was contented to listen, the young people

"Ah! our splendid river! our magnificent Amazon!" exclaimed the young girl, whose enthusiasm for the

"Unequaled river, in very truth," said Manoel; "and I do not understand all its sublime beauties. We are going

down it, however, like Orellana and La Condamine did so many centuries ago, and I am not at all surprised at

"What legends?" asked Manoel. "I dare avow that they have not yet found their way into Paraor rather that,

"What, sir!" replied Minha, with a pleasant seriousness, "you do not know, among other fables, that an

enormous reptile called the 'minhocao,' sometimes visits the Amazon, and that the waters of the river rise or

"And the 'Mae d'Aqua,'" continued the girl"that proud and redoubtable woman whose look fascinates and

"Oh, as for the 'Mae d'Aqua,' she exists!" cried the na�ve Lina; "they say that she still walks on the banks, but

"So that she may seize you and take you to the bottom of the river? Never, Mr. Benito!"

"There are people who believe in the trunk of Manaos," said Fragoso, always ready to intervene on behalf of

"Mr. Manoel," answered Fragoso, with comic gravity, "it appears that there isor rather formerly wasa

trunk of 'turuma,' which every year at the same time descended the Rio Negro, stopping several days at

Manaos, and going on into Para, halting at every port, where the natives ornamented it with little flags.

Arrived at Belem, it came to a halt, turned back on its road, remounted the Amazon to the Rio Negro, and

returned to the forest from which it had mysteriously started. One day somebody tried to drag it ashore, but

the river rose in anger, and the attempt had to be given up. And on another occasion the captain of a ship

harpooned it and tried to tow it along. This time again the river, in anger, broke off the robes, and the trunk

"It appears that on its last voyage, Miss Lina," replied Fragoso, "it mistook the way, and instead of going up

"If we meet it," answered Benito, "we will put you on it! It will take you back to the mysterious forest, and

"So much for your legends," said Manoel; "and I think your river is worthy of them. But it has also its

histories, which are worth something more. I know one, and if I were not afraid of grieving youfor it is a

"Oh! tell it, by all means, Mr. Manoel," exclaimed Lina; "I like stories which make you cry!"

"It is the history of a Frenchwoman whose sorrows rendered these banks memorable in the eighteenth

"Here goes, then," said Manoel. "In 1741, at the time of the expedition of the two Frenchmen, Bouguer and

La Condamine, who were sent to measure a terrestrial degree on the equator, they were accompanied by a

very distinguished astronomer, Godin des Odonais. Godin des Odonais set out then, but he did not set out

alone, for the New World; he took with him his young wife, his children, his fatherinlaw, and his

brotherinlaw. The travelers arrived at Quito in good health. There commenced a series of misfortunes for

Madame Odonais; in a few months she lost some of her children. When Godin des Odonais had completed

his work, toward the end of the year 1759, he left Quito and started for Cayenne. Once arrived in this town he

wanted his family to come to him, but war had been declared, and he was obliged to ask the Portuguese

government for permission for a free passage for Madame Odonais and her people. What do you think? Many

years passed before the permission could be given. In 1765 Godin des Odonais, maddened by the delay,

resolved to ascend the Amazon in search of his wife at Quito; but at the moment of his departure a sudden

illness stopped him, and he could not carry out his intention. However, his application had not been useless,

and Madame des Odonais learned at last that the king of Portugal had given the necessary permission, and

prepared to embark and descend the river to her husband. At the same time an escort was ordered to be ready

in the missions of the Upper Amazon. Madame des Odonais was a woman of great courage, as you will see

presently; she never hesitated, and notwithstanding the dangers of such a voyage across the continent, she

"It was her duty to her husband, Manoel," said Yaquita, "and I would have done the same."

"Madame des Odonais," continued Manoel, "came to Rio Bamba, at the south of Quito, bringing her

brotherinlaw, her children, and a French doctor. Their endeavor was to reach the missions on the Brazilian

frontier, where they hoped to find a ship and the escort. The voyage at first was favorable; it was made down

the tributaries of the Amazon in a canoe. The difficulties, however, gradually increased with the dangers and

fatigues of a country decimated by the smallpox. Of several guides who offered their services, the most part

disappeared after a few days; one of them, the last who remained faithful to the travlers, was drowned in the

Bobonasa, in endeavoring to help the French doctor. At length the canoe, damaged by rocks and floating

trees, became useless. It was therefore necessary to get on shore, and there at the edge of the impenetrable

forest they built a few huts of foliage. The doctor offered to go on in front with a negro who had never wished

to leave Madame des Odonais. The two went off; they waited for them several days, but in vain. They never

"In the meantime the victuals were getting exhausted. The forsaken ones in vain endeavored to descend the

Bobonasa on a raft. They had to again take to the forest, and make their way on foot through the almost

impenetrable undergrowth. The fatigues were too much for the poor folks! They died off one by one in spite

of the cares of the noble Frenchwoman. At the end of a few days children, relations, and servants, were all

"Madame des Odonais alone remained," continued Manoel. "There she was, at a thousand leagues from the

ocean which she was trying to reach! It was no longer a mother who continued her journey toward the

riverthe mother had lost her shildren; she had buried them with her own hands! It was a wife who wished

to see her husband once again! She traveled night and day, and at length regained the Bobonasa. She was

there received by some kindhearted Indians, who took her to the missions, where the escort was waiting.

But she arrived alone, and behind her the stages of the route were marked with graves! Madame des Odonais

reached Loreto, where we were a few days back. From this Peruvian village she descended the Amazon, as

we are doing at this moment, and at length she rejoined her husband after a separation of nineteen years."

And rising, he went to the side of the jangada, and looked long and earnestly at the Ronde Island, with the

waves breaking up against it. Then his hand sought his forehead, as if to rid himself of some remembrance.

But an instant after his head was raised, and his expression was that of a man resolved to do his duty to the

"BRAZA" (burning embers) is a word found in the Spanish language as far back as the twelfth century. It has

been used to make the word "brazil," as descriptive of certain woods which yield a reddish dye. From this has

come the name "Brazil," given to that vast district of South America which is crossed by the equator, and in

which these products are so frequently met with. In very early days these woods were the object of

considerable trade. Although correctly called "ibirapitunga," from the place of production, the name of

"brazil" stuck to them, and it has become that of the country, which seems like an immense heap of embers

Brazil was from the first occupied by the Portuguese. About the commencement of the sixteenth century,

Alvarez Cabral, the pilot, took possession of it, and although France and Holland partially established

themselves there, it has remained Portuguese, and possesses all the qualities which distinguish that gallant

little nation. It is today the largest state of South America, and has at its head the intelligent artistking Dom

"What is your privilege in the tribe?" asked Montaigne of an Indian whom he met at Havre.

War, we know, was for a long time the surest and most rapid vehicle of civilization. The Brazilians did what

this Indian did: they fought, they defended their conquests, they enlarged them, and we see them marching in

It was in 1824, sixteen years after the foundation of the PortugoBrazilian Empire, that Brazil proclaimed its

independence by the voice of Don Juan, whom the French armies had chased from Portugal.

It remained only to define the frontier between the new empire and that of its neighbor, Peru. This was no

If Brazil wished to extend to the Rio Napo in the west, Peru attempted to reach eight degrees further, as far as

But in the meantime Brazil had to interfere to hinder the kidnaping of the Indians from the Amazon, a

practice which was engaged in much to the profit of the HispanoBrazilian missions. There was no better

method of checking this trade than that of fortifying the Island of the Ronde, a little above Tabatinga, and

This afforded the solution, and from that time the frontier of the two countries passed through the middle of

Above, the river is Peruvian, and is called the Mara�on, as has been said. Below, it is Brazilian, and takes the

It was on the evening of the 25th of June that the jangada stopped before Tabatinga, the first Brazilian town

situated on the left bank, at the entrance of the river of which it bears the name, and bleonging to the parish of

Joam Garral had decided to pass thirtysix hours here, so as to give a little rest to the crew. They would not

On this occasion Yaquita and her children, less likely, perhaps, than at Iquitos to be fed upon by the native

mosquitoes, had announced their intention of going on ashore and visiting the town.

The population of Tabatinga is estimated at four hundred, nearly all Indians, comprising, no doubt, many of

those wandering families who are never settled at particular spots on the banks of the Amazon or its smaller

The post at the island of the Ronde has been abandoned for some years, and transferred to Tabatinga. It can

thus be called a garrison town, but the garrison is only composed of nine soldiers, nearly all Indians, and a

A bank about thirty feet high, in which are cut the steps of a not very solid staircase, forms here the curtain of

the esplanade which carries the pigmy fort. The house of the commandant consists of a couple of huts placed

in a square, and the soldiers occupy an oblong building a hundred feet away, at the foot of a large tree.

The collection of cabins exactly resembles all the villages and hamlets which are scattered along the banks of

the river, although in them a flagstaff carrying the Brazilian colors does not rise above a sentrybox, forever

destitute of its sentinel, nor are four small mortars present to cannonade on an emergency any vessel which

As for the village properly so called, it is situated below, at the base of the plateau. A road, which is but a

ravine shaded by ficuses and miritis, leads to it in a few minutes. There, on a halfcracked hill of clay, stand

a dozen houses, covered with the leaves of the "boiassu" palm placed round a central space.

All this is not very curious, but the environs of Tabatinga are charming, particularly at the mouth of the

Javary, which is of sufficient extent to contain the Archipelago of the Aramasa Islands. Hereabouts are

grouped many fine trees, and among them a large number of the palms, whose supple fibers are used in the

fabrication of hammocks and fishingnets, and are the cause of some trade. To conclude, the place is one of

Tabatinga is destined to become before long a station of some importance, and will no doubt rapidly develop,

for there will stop the Brazilian steamers which ascend the river, and the Peruvian steamers which descend it.

There they will tranship passengers and cargoes. It does not require much for an English or American village

The river is very beautiful along this part of its course. The influence of ordinary tides is not perceptible at

Tabatinga, which is more than six hundred leagues from the Atlantic. But it is not so with the "pororoca," that

species of eddy which for three days in the height of the syzygies raises the waters of the Amazon, and turns

them back at the rate of seventeen kilometers per hour. They say that the effects of this bore are felt up to the

On the morrow, the 26th of June, the Garral family prepared to go off and visit the village. Though Joam,

Benito, and Manoel had already set foot in a Brazilian town, it was otherwise with Yaquita and her daughter;

for them it was, so to speak, a taking possession. It is conceivable, therefore, that Yaquita and Minha should

If, on his part, Fragoso, in his capacity of wandering barber, had already run through the different provinces

of South America, Lina, like her young mistress, had never been on Brazilian soil.

But before leaving the jangada Fragoso had sought Joam Garral, and had the following conversation with

"Mr. Garral," said he, "from the day when you received me at the fazenda of Iquitos, lodged, clothed, fedin

"Oh, do not be alarmed!" exclaimed Fragoso, "I am not going to pay it off! Let me add, that you took me on

board the jangada and gave me the means of descending the river. But here we are, on the soil of Brazil,

which, according to all probability, I ought never to have seen again. Without that liana"

"It is to Lina, and to Lina alone, that you should tender your thanks," said Joam.

"I know," said Fragoso, "and I will never forget what I owe here, any more than what I owe you."

"They tell me, Fragoso," continued Joam, "that you are going to say goodby, and intend to remain at

"By no means, Mr. Garral, since you have allowed me to accompany you to Belem, where I hope at the least

"I was going to ask if you saw any inconvenience in my working at my profession on our route. There is no

necessity for my hand to rust; and, besides, a few handfuls of reis would not be so bad at the bottom of my

pocket, more particularly if I had earned them. You know, Mr. Garral, that a barber who is also a

hairdresserand I hardly like to say a doctor, out of respect to Mr. Manoelalways finds customers in these

"I beg pardon," replied Fragoso, "particularly among the natives. Ah! although there is no beard to trimfor

nature has been very stingy toward them in that waythere are always some heads of hair to be dressed in

the latest fashion. They are very fond of it, these savages, both the men and the women! I shall not be

installed ten minutes in the square at Tabatinga, with my cup and ball in handthe cup and ball I have

brought on board, and which I can manage with pretty pleasantlybefore a circle of braves and squaws will

have formed around me. They will struggle for my favors. I could remain here for a month, and the whole

tribe of the Ticunas would come to me to have their hair looked after! They won't hesitate to make the

acquaintance of 'curling tongs'that is what they will call meif I revisit the walls of Tabatinga! I have

already had two tries here, and my scissors and comb have done marvels! It does not do to return too often on

the same track. The Indian ladies don't have their hair curled every day, like the beauties of our Brazilian

cities. No; when it is done, it is done for year, and during the twelvemonth they will take every care not to

endanger the edifice which I have raisedwith what talent I dare not say. Now it is nearly a year since I was

at Tabatinga; I go to find my monuments in ruin! And if it is not objectionable to you, Mr. Garral, I would

render myself again worthy of the reputation which I have acquired in these parts, the question of reis, and

"Go on, then, friend, " replied Joam Garral laughingly; "but be quick! we can only remain a day at Tabatinga,

"I will not lose a minute," answered Fragoso"just time to take the tools of my profession, and I am off."

"Yes, and that is a proper sort of rain, and there can never be too much of it for your obedient servant."

A moment afterward the family, with the exception of Joam, went ashore. The jangada was able to approach

near enough to the bank for the landing to take place without much trouble. A staircase, in a miserable state,

Yaquita and her party were received by the commandant of the fort, a poor fellow who, however, knew the

laws of hospitality, and offered them some breakfast in his cottage. Here and there passed and repassed

several soldiers on guard, while on the threshold of the barrack appeared a few children, with their mothers of

In place of accepting the breakfast of the sergeant, Yaquita invited the commandant and his wife to come and

The commandant did not wait for a second invitation, and an appointment was made for eleven o'clock. In the

meantime Yaquita, her daughter, and the young mulatto, accompanied by Manoel, went for a walk in the

neighborhood, leaving Benito to settle with the commandant about the tollshe being chief of the

That done, Benito, as was his wont, strolled off with his gun into the adjoining woods. On this occasion

Manoel had declined to accompany him. Fragoso had left the jangada, but instead of mounting to the fort he

had made for the village, crossing the ravine which led off from the right on the level of the bank. He

reckoned more on the native custom of Tabatinga than on that of the garrison. Doubtless the soldiers' wives

would not have wished better than to have been put under his hands, but the husbands scarcely cared to part

with a few reis for the sake of gratifying the whims of their coquettish partners.

Among the natives it was quite the reverse. Husbands and wives, the jolly barber knew them well, and he

Behold, then, Fragoso on the road, coming up the shady lane beneath the ficuses, and arriving in the central

As soon as he set foot in the place the famous barber was signaled, recognized, surrounded. Fragoso had no

big box, nor drum, nor cornet to attract the attention of his clientsnot even a carriage of shining copper,

with resplendent lamps and ornamented glass panels, nor a huge parasol, no anything whatever to impress the

public, as they generally have at fairs. No; but Fragoso had his cup and ball, and how that cup and ball were

manipulated between his fingers! With what address did he receive the turtle's head, which did for the ball, on

the pointed end of the stick! With what grace did he make the ball describe some learned curve of which

mathematicians have not yet calculated the valueeven those who have determined the wondrous curve of

Every native was theremen, women, the old and the young, in their nearly primitive costume, looking on

with all their eyes, listening with all their ears. The smiling entertainer, half in Portuguese, half in Ticunian,

favored them with his customary oration in a tone of the most rollicking good humor. What he said was what

is said by all the charlatans who place their services at the public disposal, whether they be Spanish Figaros

or French perruqiers. At the bottom the same selfpossession, the same knowledge of human weakness, the

same description of threadbare witticisms, the same amusing dexterity, and, on the part of the natives, the

same widemouth astonishment, the same curiosity, the same credulity as the simple folk of the civilized

It followed, then, that ten minutes later the public were completely won, and crowded round Fragoso, who

The loja belonged to a Brazilian settled at Tabatinga. There, for a few vatems, which are the sols of the

country, and worth about twenty reis, or half a dozen centimes each, the natives could get drinks of the

crudest, and particularly assai, a liquor halfsold, halfliquid, made of the fruit of the palmtree, and drunk

And then men and women, with equal eagerness, took their places on the barber's stool. The scissors of

Fragoso had little to do, for it was not a question of cutting these wealthy heads of hair, nearly all remarkable

for their softness and their quality, but the use to which he could put his comb and the tongs, which were kept

"Look here! look here!" said he; "how will that do, my friendsif you don't sleep on the top of it! There you

are, for a twelvemonth! and these are the latest novelties from Belem and Rio de Janeiro! The queen's maids

of honor are not more cleverly decked out; and observe, I am not stingy with the pomade!"

No, he was not stingy with it. True, it was only a little grease, with which he had mixed some of the juices of

And as to the names of the capillary edificesfor the monuments reared by the hands of Fragoso were of

every order of architecturebuckles, rings, clubs, tresses, crimpings, rolls, corkscrews, curls, everything

found there a place. Nothing false; no towers, no chignons, no shams! These head were not enfeebled by

cuttings nor thinned by fallingsoff, but were forests in all their native virginity! Fragoso, however, was not

above adding a few natural flowers, to or three long fishbones, and some fine bone or copper ornaments,

which were brought him b the dandies of the district. Assuredly, the exquisites of the Directory would have

envied the arrangement of these highart coiffures, three and four stories high, and the great Leonard himself

And then the vatems, the handfuls of reisthe only coins for which the natives of the Amazon exchange

their goodswhich rained into the pocket of Fragoso, and which he collected with evident satisfaction. But

assuredly night would come before he could satisfy the demands of the customers, who were so constantly

renewed. It was not only the population of Tabatinga which crowded to the door of the loja. The news of the

arrival of Fragoso was not slow to get abroad; natives came to him from all sides: Ticunas from the left bank

of the river, Mayorunas from the right bank, as well as those who live on the Cajuru and those who come

A long array of anxious ones formed itself in the square. The happy ones coming from the hands of Fragoso

went proudly from one house to another, showed themselves off without daring to shake themselves, like the

It thus happened that when noon came the muchoccupied barber had not had time to return on board, but

had had to content himself with a little assai, some manioc flour, and turtle eggs, which he rapidly devoured

But it was a great harvest for the innkeeper, as all the operations could not be conducted without a large

absorption of liquors drawn from the cellars of the inn. In fact, it was an event for the town of Tabatinga, this

visit of the celebrated Fragoso, barber in ordinary and extraordinary to the tribes of the Upper Amazon!

AT FIVE O'CLOCK in the evening Fragoso was still there, and was asking himself if he would have to pass

the night on the spot to satisfy the expectant crowd, when a stranger arrived in the square, and seeing all t his

For some minutes the stranger eyed Fragoso attentively with some circumspection. The examination was

He was a man about thirtyfive years of age. He was dressed in a somewhat elegant traveling costume, which

added much to his personal appearance. But his strong black beard, which the scissors had not touched for

some time, and his hair, a trifle long, imperiously required the good offices of a barber.

Fragoso turned round when he heard the words pronounced in pure Brazilian, and not in the mixed idiom of

"A compatriot?" he asked, without stopping the twisting of the refractory mouth of a Mayouma head.

"To be sure! In a minute," said Fragoso. "Wait till I have finished with this lady!"

Although he was the last comer, and had no right to the vacant place, he sat down on the stool without

Fragoso put down the irons for the scissors, and, after the manner of his brethren, said:

"And you come from far?" asked Fragoso, who could not work without a good deal to say.

"So have I!" exclaimed Fragoso. "I have come down the Amazon from Iquitos to Tabatinga. May I ask your

When the hair was cut in the latest style Fragoso began to thin his beard, but at this moment, as he was

"Eh! Mr. Torres," said he; "I seem to know you. We must have seen each other somewhere?"

A moment after Torres continued the conversation which this question of Fragoso had interrupted, with:

"On board a raft, on which I was given a passage by a worther fazender who is going down the Amazon with

"A friend indeed!" replied Torres. "That is a chance, and if your fazender would take me"

Torres was not the man to allow a conversation to drop which was likely to interest him, and for very good

"I do not doubt it," replied Fragoso. "What he would do for a poor chap like me he would not refuse to do for

"No," replied Fragoso. "I wa going to tell you that he is traveling with all his familyand 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

"Oh, certainly!" answered Fragoso"very rich. Even the timber which forms the jangada, and the cargo it

"Yes," said Fragoso; "his wife, his son, his daughter, and Miss Minha's betrothed."

"Yes, to a brave young fellow," replied Fragoso"an army surgeon in garrison at Belem, and the wedding is

"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

"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.

"Nothing," answered Fragoso. "Between compatriots, when they meet on the frontier, there can be no

"Do not hesitate!" exclaimed Fragoso; "I will speak to him if you would like it better, and he will be very

And at that instant Manoel and Benito, coming into the town after dinner, appeared at the door of the loja,

Torres turned toward them and suddenly said: "There are two gentlemen I knowor rather I remember."

"Yes, undoubtedly! A month ago, in the forest of Iquitos, they got me out of a considerable difficulty."

Torres advanced toward the two young men, who looked at him without recognizing him.

"Wait a little," answered Benito; "Mr. Torres, if I remember aright; it was you who, in the forest of Iquitos,

"Quite true, gentlemen," replied Torres. "For six weeks I have been traveling down the Amazon, and I have

"Very pleased to see you again," said Benito; "but you have not forgotten that you promised to come to the

"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

"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

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,

"Gentlemen," said Torres, "if you like, I am ready to follow you to the landingplace."

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

"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 tomorrow," 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!"

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.

AT DAYBREAK on the morrow, the 27th of June, the cables were cast off, and the raft continued its journey

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

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

He breakfasted and dined with Joam Garral and his family, but he took little part in their conversation, and

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

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

They had passed the island of Araria, the Archipelago of the Calderon islands, the island of Capiatu, and

On the 30th of June the pilot signaled on the right the little village of JurupariTapera, where they halted for

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

"A great anteater!" 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.

"Yes, little sister," replied Benito, "and you were not there to ask for mercy! These dogs die hard, and no less

The anteater looked superb, with his long tail and grizzly hair; with his pointed snout, which is plunged into

the anthills 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

anteater! 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'Oliven�a, 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

Manoel remarked how thick the cloudiness was, for it could be clearly seen on the surface of the whitish

"They have tried to explain this coloring in many ways," said he, "but I do not think the most learned have

"The waters are really black with a magnificent reflection of gold," replied Minha, showing a light,

"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

"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

aftertaste, 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 tablewaters used in

It has been said that in the morning of the 2d of July the jangada had arrived at San Pablo d'Oliven�a, 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 blowtube, have they not

adopted the American costume of white cotton trousers, and a cotton poncho woven by their wives, who have

San Pablo d'Oliven�a, 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 "flatheads," 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 retaken their natural form, and there is not the slightest trace of the ancient deformity

Every one, with the exception of Joam Garral, went ashore. Torres also remained on board, and showed no

desire to visit San Pablo d'Oliven�a, which he did not, however, seem to be acquainted with.

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 customhouse, 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

The town is composed of some sixty houses, arranged on the plain which hereabouts crowns the riverbank.

Some of the huts are covered with tilesa 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

The commandant, his lieutenant, and the head of the police accepted an invitation to dine with the family, and

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

The commandant of San Pablo d'Oliven�a 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,

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 I�a, 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 breastedPimaicaira, 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

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 lightcolored 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

"Oh, the dreadful creatures!" cried Lina, hiding her eyes; "they fill me with horror!"

"To be surevery 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 the 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

"Talk no more of things like that, Manoel," said Yaquita, "or neither Minha nor Lina will dare sleep

"Never fear!" replied Manoel; "if necessary we will watch over them as they sleep."

"Do you not hear a very curious noise on that side?" continued Benito, pointing to the right bank.

"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

He was not deceived; the noise was produced by innumerable chelonians of all sizes, who were attracted to

It is in the sand of the beach that these amphibians choose the most convenient places to deposit their eggs.

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

This egglaying 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 partsone 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

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 backswhen they come from laying their eggs,

and whom they preserve alive, keeping them in palisaded pools like fishpools, 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

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

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 waterfowl 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.

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

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

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 I�a, 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

Representatives of different tribes of Indians are found in the neighborhood, which are easily recognizable by

The I�a is a body of water coming from the east of the Pasto Mountains to the northeast of Quito, through the

finest forests of wild cacaotrees. 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

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

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 westnorthwest, 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

They might have taken the Ahuaty Parana, a sort of natural canal, which goes off a little below the mouth of

the Tunantins, and reenters 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

On the 13th of July, after having touched at the island of Capuro, passed the mouth of the Jutahy, which,

coming from the eastsoutheast, brings in its black waters by a mouth five hundred feet wide, and admired

the legions of monkeys, sulphurwhite in color, with cinnabarred faces, who are insatiable lovers of the nuts

produced by the palmtrees from which the river derives its name, the travelers arrived on the 18th of July

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

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

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 harpoona long

nail at the end of a stickkept 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

In fact, this time had scarcely elapsed before the black points emerged at a little distance, and two jets of air

The ubas approached, the harpoons were thrown at the same instant; one missed its mark, but the other struck

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

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

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 smokedried 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 cacaotrees. The sky was

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

"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

The jangada continued to descend; but what a labyrinth the Amazon now appeared! The Rio Japura, whose

mouth was fortyeight miles on ahead, and which is one of its largest tributaries, runs almost parallel with the

Between them were canals, iguarapes, lagoons, temporary lakes, an inextricable network which renders the

But if Araujo had no map to guide him, his experience served him more surely, and it was wonderful to see

In fact, he did so well that on the 25th of July, in the afternoon, after having passed before the village of

ParaniTapera, 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 hardworking crew of

The night passed at the moorings near a slightly rising shore, and nothing disturbed the quiet. A little

sheetlightning was observable on the horizon, but it came from a distant storm which did not reach the

AT SIX o'clock in the morning of the 20th of July, Yaquita, Minha, Lina, and the two young men prepared to

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

As to Fragoso, he could not have the same reason for going to Ega as had taken him to Tabatinga, which is a

Ega is a chief town with fifteen hundred inhabitants, and in it reside all those authorities which compose the

administration of a considerable cityconsiderable 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 hairdressers

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

"Certainly not, he is going to stay on board, Miss Lina, but you wold oblige me by not calling him my

"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

"NoI try all I can. How long was it ago? In what country? Under what circumstances? And I cannot hit

"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

Did the latter notice the feelings of aversion with which he was regarded? Perhaps, but doubtless he had his

A distance of four leagues separated the mooringplace 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

So the lateen sail was hoisted on the mast of the pirogue. Benito took the tiller, and off they went, after a last

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 coastingtrade on the Atlantic seaboard.

"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

"Quite so, and he is also poking fun at his mother," added Yaquita, "for I confess I never saw anything equal

"Then, mother and sister, you must take great care that you do not fall into a trance when you get to Manaos,

"Never fear," answered Manoel; "the ladies will have been gently prepared for these grand wonders by

"Now, Manoel," said Minha, "you are talking just like my brother! Are you making fun of us, too?"

"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

palmleaves; 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 orangetrees 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

cocoanuttrees 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 olivetrees 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 o the town

pretentiously showed off their Parisian toilettes, a little out of date perhaps, for Ega is five hundred leagues

"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."

But they had come to see. They walked through the streets, which contained more stalls than shops; they

strolled about the marketplace, the rendezvous of the fashionable, who were nearly stifled in their European

clothes; they even breakfasted at an hotelit was scarcely an innwhose cookery caused them to deeply

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 priogue regained the mooringplace and hailed the jangada.

"Nothing, Miss Lina," he replied; "Torres has scarcely left hi cabin, where he has been reading and writing."

"Holding an old piece of paper in his hand, consulting it with great attention, and muttering a lot of

"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!"

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, and it is the mountains of the republic of

Ecuador which start them on a course that there are no falls to break until two hundred and ten leagues from

All this day was spent in descending to the island of Yapura, after which the river, less interfered with, makes

navigation much easier. The current is not so rapid and the islets are easily avoided, so that there were no

The next day the jangada coasted along by vast beaches formed by undulating high domes, which served as

the barriers of immense pasture grounds, in which the whole of the cattle in Europe could be raised and fed.

These sand banks are considered to be the richest turtle grounds in the basin of the Upper Amazon.

On the evening of the 29th of July they were securely moored off the island of Catua, so as to pass the night,

On this island, as soon as the sun rose above the horizon, there appeared a party of Muras Indians, the

remains of that ancient and powerful tribe, which formerly occupied more than a hundred leagues of the river

These Indians went and came, watching the raft, which remained stationary. There were about a hundred of

them armed with blowtubes formed of a reed peculiar to these parts, and which is strengthened outside by

Joam Garral quitted for an instand the work which took up all his time, to warn his people to keep a good

In truth the sides were not well matched. The Muras are remarkably clever at sending through their

blowtubes arrows which cause incurable wounds, even at a range of three hundred paces.

These arrows, made of the leaf of the "coucourite" palm, are feathered with cotton, and nine or ten inches

Curare, or "wourah," the liquor "which kills in a whisper," as the Indians say, is prepared from the sap of one

of the euphorbiace� and the juice of a bulbous strychnos, not to mention the paste of venomous ants and

"It is indeed a terrible poison," said Manoel. "It attacks at once those nerves by which the movements are

subordinated to the will. But the heart is not touched, and it does not cease to beat until the extinction of the

vital functions, and besides no antidote is known to the poison, which commences by numbness of the limbs."

Very fortunately, these Muras made no hostile demonstrations, although they entertain a profound hatred

toward the whites. They have, in truth, no longer the courage of their ancestors.

At nightfall a fiveholed flute was heard behind the trees in the island, playing several airs in a minor key.

Another flute answered. This interchange of musical phrases lasted for two or three minutes, and the Muras

Fragoso, in an exuberant moment, had tried to reply by a song in his own fashion, but Lina had clapped her

hand on his mouth, and prevented his showing off his insignificant singing talents, which he was so willingly

On the 2d of August, at three o'clock in the afternoon, the raft arrived twenty leagues away from there at Lake

Apoara, which is fed by the black waters of the river of the same name, and two days afterward, about five

This lake is one of the largest which communicates with the Amazon, and it serves as a reservoir for different

rivers. Five or six affluents run into it, and there are stored and mixed up, and emerge by a narrow channel

After catching a glimpse of the hamlet of TahuaMiri, mounted on its piles as on stilts, as a protection

against inundation from the floods, which often sweep up over these low sand banks, the raft was moored for

The stoppage was made in sight of the village of Coary, a dozen houses, considerably dilapidated, built I the

Nothing can be more changeable than the aspect of this village, for according to the rise or fall of the water

the lake stretches away on all sides of it, or is reduced to a narrow canal, scarcely deep enough to

On the following morning, that of the 5th of August, they started at dawn, passing the canal of Yucura,

belonging to the tangled system of lakes and furos of the Rio Zapura, and on the morning of the 6th of

No fresh incident occurred in the life on board, which proceeded with almost methodical regularity.

Many times he tried to get him to talk about his past life, but the adventurer eluded all conversation on the

After catching a glimpse of the hamlet of TahuaMiri, mounted on its piles as on stilts, as a protection

against inundation from the floods, which often sweep up and over these low sand banks, the raft was moored

His intercourse with the Garral family remained the same. If he spoke little to Joam, he addressed himself

more willingly to Yaquita and her daughter, and appeared not to notice the evident coolness with which he

was received. They all agreed that when the raft arrived at Manaos, Torres should leave it, and that they

would never speak of him again. Yaquita followed the advice of Padre Passanha, who counseled patience, but

the good priest had not such an easy task in Manoel, who was quite disposed to put on shore the intruder who

A pirogue, going down the river, came alongside the jangada, after being hailed by Joam Garral.

"Are you going to Manaos?" askee he of the Indian who commanded and was steering her.

The Indian took the letter which Joam gave him, and a handful of reis was the price of the commission he had

No members of the family, then gone into the house, knew anything of this. Torres was the only witness. He

heard a few words exchanged between Joam and the Indian, and from the cloud which passed over his face it

HOWEVER, if Manoel, to avoid giving rise to a violent scene on board, said nothing on the subject of

"Benito," he began, after taking him to the bow of the jangada, "I have something to say to you."

Benito, generally so goodhumored, stopped as he looked at Manoel, and a cloud came over his countenance.

"Ah! It is not a feeling of jealousy, though, that exasperates you against such a man?" said Benito quickly.

"No!" replied Manoel. "Decidedly not! Heaven forbid I should do such an injury to the girl who is to become

my wife. No, Benito! She holds the adventurer in horror! I am not thinking anything of that sort; but it

distresses me to see this adventurer constantly obtruding himself by his presence and conversation on your

mother and sister, and seeking to introduce himself into that intimacy with your family which is already

"Manoel," gravely answered Benito, "I share your aversion for this dubious individual, and had I consulted

"Listen to me, Manoel," continued Benito. "You have observed Torres well, have you not? You have

remarked his attentions to my sister! Nothing can be truer! But while you have been noticing that, have you

not seen that this annoying man never keeps his eyes off my father, no matter if he is near to him or far from

him, and that he seems to have some spiteful secret intention in watching him with such unaccountable

"What are you talking about, Benito? Have you any reason to think that Torres bears some grudge against

"No! I think nothing!" replied Benito; "it is only a presentiment! But look well at Torres, study his face with

care, and you will see what an evil grin he has whenever my father comes into his sight."

"Well, then," exclaimed Manoel, "if it is so, Benito, the more reason for clearing him out!"

"More reasonor less reason," replied Benito. "Manoel, I fearwhat? I know notbut to force my father

to get rid of Torres would perhaps be imprudent! I repeat it, I am aafraid, though no positive fact enables me

"Yes; wait, before doing anything, but above all things let us be on our guard!"

"After all," answered Manoel, "in twenty days we shall be at Manaos. There Torres must stop. There he will

leave us, and we shall be relieved of his presence for good! Till then we must keep our eyes on him!"

"I understand you, my friend, my brother!" replied Manoel, "although I do not share, and cannot share, your

fears! What connection can possibly exist between your father and this adventurer? Evidently your father has

"I do not say that my father knows Torres," said Benito; "but assuredly it seems to me that Torres knows my

father. What was the fellow doing in the neighborhood of the fazenda when we met him in the forest of

Iquitos? Why did he then refuse the hospitality which we offered, so as to afterward manage to force himself

on us as our traveling companion? We arrive at Tabatinga, and there he is as if he was waiting for us! The

probability is that these meetings were in pursuance of a preconceived plan. When I see the shifty, dogged

look of Torres, all this crowds on my mind. I do not know! I am losing myself in things that defy

explanation! Oh! why did I ever think of offering to take him on board this raft?"

"Manoel!" continued Benito, who seemed to be powerless to contain himself, "think you that if it only

concerned methis man who inspires us all with such aversion and disgustI should not hesitate to throw

him overboard! But when it concerns my father, I fear lest in giving way to my impressions I may be injuring

my object! Something tells me that with this scheming fellow there may be danger in doing anything until he

has given us the rightthe right and the dutyto do it. In short, on the jangada, he is in our power, and if

we both keep good watch over my father, we can spoil his game, no matter how sure it may be, and force him

The arrival of Torres in the bow of the raft broke off the conversation. Torres looked slyly at the two young

Benito was not deceived when he said that the adventurer's eyes were never off Joam Garral as long as he

No! he was not deceived when he said that Torres' face grew evil when he looked at his father!

By what myeterious bond could these two menone nobleness itself, that was selfevidentbe connected

Such being the state of affairs it was certainly difficult for Torres, constantly watched as he was by the two

young men, by Fragoso and Lina, to make a single movement without having instantly to repress it. Perhaps

he understood the position. If he did, he did not show it, for his manner changed not in the least.

Satisfied with their mutual explanation, Manoel and Benito promised to keep him in sight without doing

During the following days the jangada passed on the right the mouths of the rivers Camara, Aru, and

Yuripari, whose waters instead of flowing into the Amazon run off to the south to feed the Rio des Purus, and

return by it into the main river. At five o'clock on the evening of the 10th of August they put into the island of

They there passed a "seringal." This name is applied to a caoutchouc plantation, the caoutchouc being

extracted from the "seringueira" tree, whose scientific name is siphonia elastica.

It is said that, by negligence or bad management, the number of these trees is decreasing in the basin of the

Amazon, but the forests of seringueira trees are still very considerable on the banks of the Madeira, Purus,

There were here some twenty Indians collecting and working the caoutchouc, an operation which principally

After having ascertained that the trees, well prepared by the river floods which have bathed their stems to a

height of about four feet, are in good condition for the harvest, the Indians are set to work.

Incisions are made into the alburnum of the seringueiras; below the wound small pots are attached, which

twentyfour hours suffice to fill with a milky sap. It can also be collected by means of a hollow bamboo, and

The sap being obtained, the Indians, to prevent the separation of its peculiar resins, fumigate it over a fire of

the nuts of the assai palm. By spreading out the sap on a wooden scoop, and shaking it in the smoke, its

coagulation is almost immediately obtained; it assumes a grayishyellow tinge and solidifies. The layers

formed in succession are detached from the scoop, exposed to the sun, hardened, and assume the brownish

Benito, finding a capital opportunity, bought from the Indians all the caoutchouc stored in their cabins,

which, by the way, are mostly built on piles. The price he gave them was sufficiently remunierative, and they

Four days later, on the 14th of August, the jangada passed the mouths of the Purus.

This is another of the large affluents of the Amazon, and seems to possess a navigable course, even for large

ships, of over five hundred leagues. It rises in the southwest, and measures nearly five thousand feet across at

its junction with the main river. After winding beneath the shade of ficuses, tahuaris, nipa palms, and

Hereabouts Araujo the pilot managed with great ease. The course of the river was but slightly obstructed with

The current, too, took along the jangada more steadily, and on the 18th of August it stopped at the village of

The sun was already low on the horizon, and with the rapidity peculiar to these low latitudes, was about to set

Torres, after having for an instant turned toward Joam as if he would speak to him, and prevented perhaps by

the arrival of Padre Passanha, who had come to bid the family goodnight, had gone back to his cabin.

The Indians and the negroes were at their quarters along the sides. Araujo, seated at the bow, was watching

Manoel and Benito, with their eyes open, but chatting and smoking with apparent indifference, walked about

"One would say that it was the odor of burning musk!" replied Benito. "There ought to be some alligators

"Yes," said Benito, "it is fortunate, for they are sufficiently formidable creatures!"

Often at the close of the day these saurians love to stretch themselves on the shore, and install themselves

comfortably there to pass the night. Crouched at the opening of a hole, into which they have crept back, they

sleep with the mouth open, the upper jaw perpendicularly erect, so as to lie in wait for their prey. To these

amphibians it is but sport to launch themselves in its pursuit, either by swimming through the waters

propelled by their tails or running along the bank with a speed no man can equal.

It is on these huge beaches that the caymans are born, live, and die, not without affording extraordinary

examples of longevity. Not only can the old ones, the centenarians, be recognized by the greenish moss

which carpets their carcass and is scattered over their protuberances, but by their natural ferocity, which

increases with age. As Benito said, they are formidable creatures, and it is fortunate that their attacks can be

Three large saurians, from fifteen to twenty feet long, had managed to clamber on to the platform of the raft.

"Bring the guns! Bring the guns!" shouted Benito, making signs to the Indians and the blacks to get behind.

And in truth, as they could not attack them at once, the bst thing they could do was to get into shelter without

It was done in an instant. The Garral family took refuge in the house, where the two young men joined them.

The Indians and the negroes ran into their huts and cabins. As they were shutting the door:

"Good heavens! where is she?" exclaimed her mother, and they all shouted at once:

The two young men, and Fragoso and Joam Garral, thinking no more of danger, rushed out of the house, guns

Scarcely were they outside when two of the alligators made a half turn and ran toward them.

A doze of buckshot to the head, close to the eye, from Benito, stopped one of the monsters, who, mortally

The huge alligator tore up to Joam Garral, and after knocking him over with a sweep of his tail, ran at him

At this moment Torres rushed from the cabin, hatchet in hand, and struck such a terrific blow that its edge

Blinded by the blood, the animal flew to the side, and, designedly or not, fell over and was lost in the stream.

"Minha! Minha!" shouted Manoel in distraction, when he got to the bow of the jangada.

Suddenly she came into view. She had taken refuge in the cabin of Araujo, and the cabin had just been upset

by a powerful blow from the third alligator. Minha was flying aft, pursued by the monster, who was not six

A second shot from Benito failed to stop the cayman. He only struck the animals carapace, and the scales

Manoel threw himself at the girl to raise her, or to snatch her from death! A side blow from the animal's tail

And then Fragoso jumped in to the animal, and thrust in a knife to the very bottom of his throat, at the risk of

Fragoso pulled out his arm in time, but he could not avoid the chock of the cayman, and was hurled back into

A second afterward Fragoso reappeared on the surface of the Amazonsafe and sound.

But, at the peril of his life he had saved the young girl, who soon came to. And as all hands were held out to

himManoel's, Yaquita's, Minha's, and Lina's, and he did not know what to say, he ended by squeezing the

However, though Fragoso had saved Minha, it was assuredly to the intervention of Torres that Joam Garral

It was not, therefore, the fazender's life that the adventurer wanted. In the face of this fact, so much had to be

"That is true!" replied Benito, embarrassed. "You are right, and in a sense it is one cruel care the less!

Nevertheless, Manoel, my suspicions still exist! It is not always a man's worst enemy who wishes him dead!"

"Thank you, Torres!" he said, holding out his hand. The adventurer took a step or two backward without

"Torres," continued Joam, "I am sorry that we are arriving at the end of our voyage, and that in a few days we

"Joam Garral!" answered Torres, "you owe me nothing! Your life is precious to me above all things! But if

you will allow meI have been thinkingin place of stopping at Manaos, I will go on to Belem. Will you

In hearing this demand Benito in an unguarded moment was about to intervene, but Manoel stopped him, and

IN THE MORNING, after a night which was scarcely sufficient to calm so much excitement, they unmoored

from the cayman beach and departed. Before five days, if nothing intervered with their voyage, the raft would

Minha had quite recovered from her fright, and her eyes and smiles thanked all those who had risked their

As for Lina, it seemed as though she was more grateful to the brave Fragoso than if it was herself that he had

"Then if I know it, let it be soon and not late!" replied the goodnatured fellow.

And from this day it began to be whispered about that the charming Lina was engaged to Fragoso, that their

marriage would take place at the same time as that of Minha and Manoel, and that the young couple would

"Capital! capital!" repeated Fragoso unceasingly; "but I never thought Para was such a long way off!"

As for Manoel and Benito, they had had a long conversation about what had passed. There could be no

This reply, hyperbolical and enigmatical at the time, Benito had heard and remembered.

In the meantime the young men could do nothing. More than ever they were reduced to waitingto waiting

not for four or five days, but for seven or eight weeksthat is to say, for whatever time it would take for the

"Yes, but we are assured on one point," answered Manoel. "It is certain that Torres does not want your

It seemed that from this day Torres desired to keep himself more reserved. He did not seek to intrude on the

family, and was even less assiduous toward Minha. There seemed a relief in the situation of which all, save

On the evening of the same day they left on the right the island of Baroso, formed by a furo of that name, and

The night passed without incident, though Joam Garral had advised them to watch with great care.

On the morrow, the 20th of August, the pilot, who kept near the right bank on account of the uncertain eddies

Beyond this bank the country was dotted with large and small lakes, much as those of Calderon,

Huarandeina, and other blackwatered lagoons. This water system marks the approach of the Rio Negro, the

most remarkable of all the tributaries of the Amazon. In reality the main river still bore the name of the

Solimoens, and it is only after the junction of the Rio Negro that it takes the name which has made it

The arm followed by the pilot, between Calderon Island and the shore, was very narrow, although it appeared

sufficiently large. This was owing to a great portion of the island being slightly above the mean level, but still

covered by the high flood waters. On each side were massed forests of giant trees, whose summits towered

some fifty feet above the ground, and joining one bank to the other formed an immense cradle.

On the left nothing could be more picturesque than this flooded forest, which seemed to have been planted in

the middle of a lake. The stems of the trees arose from the clear, still water, in which every interlacement of

their boughs was reflected with unequaled purity. They were arranged on an immense sheet of glass, like the

trees in miniature on some table epergne, and their reflection could not be more perfect. The difference

between the image and the reality could scarcely be described. Duplicates of grandeur, terminated above and

below by a vast parasol of green, they seemed to form two hemispheres, inside which the jangada appeared to

It had been necessary to bring the raft under these boughs, against which flowed the gentle current of the

stream. It was impossible to go back. Hence the task of navigating with extreme care, so as to avoid the

In this all Araujo's ability was shown, and he was admirably seconded by his crew. The trees of the forest

furnished the restingplaces for the long poles which kept the jangada in its course. The least blow to the

jangada would have endangered the complete demolition of the woodwork, and caused the loss, if not of the

"It is truly very beautiful," said Minha, "and it would be very pleasant for us always to travel in this way, on

"At the same time pleasant and dangerous, dear Minha," said Manoel. "In a pirogue there is doubtless nothing

to fear in sailing here, but on a huge raft of wood better have a free course and a clear stream."

"Look well at it, then!" said Lina. "All these beautiful things pass so quickly! Ah! dear mistress! do you see

the troops of monkeys disporting in the higher branches, and the birds admiring themselves in the pellucid

"And the flowers halfopened on the surface," replied Minha, "and which the current dandles like the

"And the long lianas, which so oddly stretch from one tree to another!" added the young mulatto.

"And no Fragoso at the end of them!" said Lina's betrothed. "That was rather a nice flower you gathered in

"Just behold the flowerthe only one in the world," said Lina quizzingly; "and, mistress! just look at the

And Lina pointed to the nymph�as with their colossal leaves, whose flowers bear buds as large as cocoanuts.

Then, just where the banks plunged beneath the waters, there were clumps of "mucumus," reeds with large

leaves, whose elastic stems bend to give passage to the pirogues and close again behind them. There was

there what would tempt any sportsman, for a whole world of aquatic birds fluttered between the higher

Ibises halflollingly posed on some old trunk, and gray herons motionless on one leg, solemn flamingoes

who from a distance looked like red umbrellas scattered in the foliage, and phenicopters of every color,

And along the top of the water glided long and swiftlyswimming snakes, among them the formidable

gymnotus, whose electric discharges successively repeated paralyze the most robust of men or animals, and

end by dealing death. Precautions had to be taken against the "sucurijus" serpents, which, coiled round the

trunk of some tree, unroll themselves, hang down, seize their prey, and draw it into their rings, which are

powerful enough to crush a bullock. Have there not been met with in these Amazonian forests reptiles from

thirty to thirtyfive feet long? and even, according to M. Carrey, do not some exist whose length reaches

Had one of these sucurijus, indeed, got on to the raft he would have proved as formidable as an alligator.

Very fortunately the travelers had to contend with neither gymnotus nor sucuriju, and the passage across the

Three days passed. They neared Manaos. Twentyfour hours more and the raft would be off the mouth of the

In fact, on the 23d of August, at five o'clock in the evening, they stopped at the southern point of Muras

Island, on the right bank of the stream. They only had to cross obliquely for a few miles to arrive at the port,

but the pilot Araujo very properly would not risk it on that day, as night was coming on. The three miles

which remained would take three hours to travel, and to keep to the course of the river it was necessary,

This evening the dinner, which promised to be the last of this first part of the voyage, was not served without

a certain amount of ceremony. Half the journey on the Amazon had been accomplished, and the task was

worthy of a jovial repast. It was fitting to drink to the health of Amazones a few glasses of that generous

liquor which comes from the coasts of Oporto and Setubal. Besides, this was, in a way, the betrothal dinner of

Fragoso and the charming Linathat of Manoel and Minha had taken place at the fazenda of Iquitos several

weeks before. After the young master and mistress, it was the turn of the faithful couple who were attached to

So Lina, who was to remain in the service of Minha, and Fragoso, who was about to enter into that of Manoel

Valdez, sat at the common table, and even had the places of honor reserved for them.

Torres, naturally, was present at the dinner, which was worthy of the larder and kitchen of the jangada.

The adventurer, seated opposite to Joam Garral, who was always taciturn, listened to all that was said, but

took no part in the conversation. Benito quietly and attentively watched him. The eyes of Torres, with a

peculiar expression, constantly sought his father. One would have called them the eyes of some wild beast

Manoel talked mostly with Minha. Between whiles his eyes wandered to Torres, but he acted his part more

successfully than Benito in a situation which, if it did not finish at Manaos, would certainly end at Belem.

The dinner was jolly enough. Lina kept it going with her good humor, Fragoso with his witty repartees.

The Padre Passanha looked gayly round on the little world he cherished, and on the two young couples which

"Eat, padre," said Benito, who joined in the general conversation; "do honor to this betrothal dinner. You will

"Well, my dear boy," replied Passanha, "seek out some lovely and gentle girl who wishes you well, and you

"Well answered, padre!" exclaimed Manoel. "Let us drink to the coming marriage of Benito."

"We must look out for some nice young lady at Belem," said Minha. "He should do what everybody else

"To the wedding of Mr. Benito!" said Fragoso, "who ought to wish all the world to marry him!"

"They are right, sir," said Yaquita. "I also drink to your marriage, and may you be as happy as Minha and

"As you always will be, it is to be hoped," said Torres, drinking a glass of port without having pledged

It was difficult to say, but this wish, coming from the adventurer, left an unpleasant impression.

Manoel felt this, and wishing to destroy its effect, "Look here, padre," said he, "while we are on this subject,

"I do not know," answered Padre Passanha, "unless Torresyou are not married, I believe?"

"And what should prevent you marrying?" replied Padre Passanha; "at Belem you could find a wife whose

age would suit yours, and it would be possible perhaps for you to settle in that town. That would be better

than this wandering life, of which, up to the present, you have not made so very much."

"You are right, padre," answered Torres; "I do not say no. Besides the example is contagious. Seeing all these

young couples gives me rather a longing for marriage. But I am quite a stranger in Belem, and, for certain

"Where do you come from, then?" asked Fragoso, who always had the idea that he had already met Torres

Those who had seen Joam Garral at this moment would have been surprised at the fixity of his look which

"No! I come from the Atlantic seaboard in the north of Brazil," replied Fragoso.

"And you, Mr. Benito," continued Torres, addressing the younger Garral, whom he evidently wished to join

in the conversation; "you have never had curiosity enough to visit the diamond arraval?"

"Ah! I should like to see that country," said Fragoso, who unconsciously played Torres' game. "It seems to

"And what would you do with this diamond worth something considerable, Fragoso?" queried Lina.

"Well, if you had been rich three months ago you would never have had the idea ofthat liana!"

"And if I had not had that," exclaimed Fragoso, "I should not have found a charming little wife whowell,

"You see, Fragoso," said Minha, "when you marry Lina, diamond takes the place of diamond, and you do not

There could be no doubt that Torres did not want the subject to drop, for he went on with:

"It is a fact that at Tijuco sudden fortunes are realized enough to turn any man's head! Have you heard tell of

the famous diamond of Abaete, which was valued at more than two million contos of reis? Well, this stone,

which weighed an ounce, came from the Brazilian mines! And they were three convictsyes! three men

sentenced to transportation for lifewho found it by chance in the River Abaete, at ninety leagues from

"No," replied Torres; "the diamond was handed over to the governorgeneral of the mines. The value of the

stone was recognized, and King John VI., of Portugal, had it cut, and wore it on his neck on great occasions.

As for the convicts, they got their pardon, but that was all, and the cleverest could not get much of an income

"YesI? Why not?" answered Torres. "Have you ever been to the diamond district?" added he, this time

"That is a pity!" replied he. "You should go there one day. It is a very curious place, I assure you. The

diamond valley is an isolated spot in the vast empire of Brazil, something like a park of a dozen leagues in

circumference, which in the nature of its soil, its vegetation, and its sandy rocks surrounded by a circle of

high mountains, differs considerably from the neighboring provinces. But, as I have told you, it is one of the

richest places in the world, for from 1807 to 1817 the annual return was about eighteen thousand carats. Ah!

there have been some rare finds there, not only for the climbers who seek the precious stone up to the very

tops of the mountains, but also for the smugglers who fraudulently export it. But the work in the mines is not

so pleasant, and the two thousand negroes employed in that work by the government are obliged even to

divert the watercourses to get at the diamantiferous sand. Formerly it was easier work."

"But what is still easy is to get the diamonds in scoundrelfashionthat is, by theft; andstop! in 1826,

when I was about eight years old, a terrible drama happened at Tijuco, which showed that criminal would

recoil from nothing if they could gain a fortune by one bold stroke. But perhaps you are not interested?"

"On the contrary, Torres; go on," replied Joam Garral, in a singularly calm voice.

"So be it," answered Torres. "Well, the story is about stealing diamonds, and a handful of those pretty stones

And Torres, whose face expressed the vilest sentiments of cupidity, almost unconsciously made a gesture of

"This is what happened," he continued. "At Tijuco it is customary to send off in one delivery the diamonds

collected during the year. They are divided into two lots, according to their size, after being sorted in a dozen

sieves with holes of different dimensions. These lots are put into sacks and forwarded to Rio de Janeiro; but

as they are worth many millions you may imagine they are heavily escorted. A workman chosen by the

superintendent, four cavalrymen from the district regiment, and ten men on foot, complete the convoy. They

first make for Villa Rica, where the commandant puts his seal on the sacks, and then the convoy continues its

journey to Rio de Janeiro. I should add that, for the sake of precaution, the start is always kept secret. Well, in

1826, a young fellow named Dacosta, who was about twentytwo or twentythree years of age, and who for

some years had been employed at Tijuco in the offices of the governorgeneral, devised the following

scheme. He leagued himself with a band of smugglers, and informed them of the date of the departure of the

convoy. The scoundrels took their measures accordingly. They were numerous and well armed. Close to Villa

Rica, during the night of the 22d of January, the gang suddenly attacked the diamond escort, who defended

themselves bravely, but were all massacred, with the exception of one man, who, seriously wounded,

managed to escape and bring the news of the horrible deed. The workman was not spared any more than the

soldiers. He fell beneath he blows of the thieves, and was doubtless dragged away and thrown over some

"Well, his crime did not do him much good, for suspicion soon pointed toward him. He was accused of

having got up the affair. In vain he protested that he was innocent. Thanks to the situation he held, he was in a

position to know the date on which the convoy's departure was to take place. He alone could have informed

the smugglers. He was charged, arrested, tried, and sentenced to death. Such a sentence required his

"No," replied Torres; "they shut him up in the prison at Villa Rica, and during the night, a few hours only

"Never," replied Torres. "He probably left Brazil, and now, in some distant land, lives a cheerful life with the

"And, perhaps," added Padre Passanha, "Heaven caused him to feel remorse for his crime."

Here they all rose from the table, and, having finished their dinner, went out to breathe the evening air. The

"These stories are not very lively," said Fragoso, "and our betrothal dinner was best at the beginning."

"It was you who went on talking about the district and the diamonds, when you should not have done so."

"Well, that's true," replied Fragoso; "but I had no idea we were going to wind up in that fashion."

"And the first to be punished, Miss Lina; for I did not hear you laugh all through the dessert."

The whole family strolled toward the bow of the jangada. Manoel and Benito walked one behind the other

without speaking. Yaquita and her daughter silently followed, and all felt an unaccountable impression of

Torres stepped up to Joam Garral, who, with bowed head, seemed to be lost in thought, and putting his hand

on his shoulder, said, "Joam Garral, may I have a few minutes' conversation with you?"

It would be difficult to depict what every one felt when Joam Garral and Torres disappeared. What could

there be in common between the adventurer and the honest fazender of Iquitos? The menace of some frightful

misfortune seemed to hang over the whole family, and they scarcely dared speak to each other.

"Manoel!" said Benito, seizing his friend's arm, "whatever happens, this man must leave us tomorrow at

FOR A MOMENT, alone in the room, where none could see or hear them, Joam Garral and Torres looked at

each other without uttering a word. Did the adventurer hesitate to speak? Did he suspect that Joam Garral

Yes! Probably so. So Torres did not question him. At the outset of the conversation he took the affirmative,

At the guilty name which Torres thus gave him, Joam Garral could not repress a slight shudder.

"You are Joam Dacosta," continued Torres, "who, twentyfive years ago, were a clerk in the

governorgeneral's office at Tijuco, and you are the man who was sentenced to death in this affair of the

No response from Joam Garral, whose strange tranquillity surprised the adventurer. Had he made a mistake in

accusing his host? No! For Joam Garral made no start at the terrible accusations. Doubtless he wanted to

"Joam Dacosta, I repeat! It was you whom they sought for this diamond affair, whom they convicted of crime

and sentenced to death, and it was you who escaped from the prison at Villa Rica a few hours before you

Rather a long silence followed this direct question which Torres asked. Joam Garral, still calm, took a seat.

His elbow rested on a small table, and he looked fixedly at his accuser without bending his head.

"A reply," slowly answered Torres, "that will keep me from finding out the chief of the police at Manaos, and

saying to him, 'A man is there whose identity can easily be established, who can be recognized even after

twentyfive years' absence, and this man was the instigator of the diamond robbery at Tijuco. He was the

accomplice of the murderers of the soldiers of the escort; he is the man who escaped from execution; he is

"And so, Torres," said Joam Garral, "I shall have nothing to fear from you if I give the answer you require?"

"Nothing, for neither you nor I will have any interest in talking about the matter."

"Neither you nor I?" asked Joam Garral. "It is not with money, then, that your silence is to be bought?"

"Joam Garral," replied Torres, "here is my proposal. Do not be in a hurry to reply by a formal refusal.

The attitude of this guilty man, whose life he held in his hands, was enough to astonish him. He had expected

a stormy discussion and prayers and tears. He had before him a man convicted of the most heinous of crimes,

Apparently Joam Garral expected anything from such a man, and was as quiet as before.

"And so," he said, "the worthy Torres is anxious to enter the family of a murderer and a thief?"

"I am the sole judge of what it suits me to do," said Torres. "I wish to be the soninlaw of Joam Garral, and

"If you tell her all, I have no doubt she would consent," was the impudent answer.

"All, if necessary. Between her own feelings and the honor of her family and the life of her father she would

"You are a consummate scoundrel, Torres," quietly said Joam, whose coolness never forsook him.

At these words Joam Garral rose, advanced to the adventurer, and looking him straight in the face, "Torres,"

he said, "if you wish to become one of the family of Joam Dacosta, you ought to know that Joam Dacosta

"And I add," replied Joam, "that you hold the proof of his innocence, and are keeping it back to proclaim it on

"Fair play, Joam Garral," answered Torres, lowering his voice, "and when you have heard me out, you will

"Well," said the adventurer, half keeping back his words, as if he was sorry to let them escape from his lips,

"I know you are innocent! I know it, for I know the true culprit, and I am in a position to prove your

"Dead!" exclaimed Joam Garral; and the word made him turn pale, in spite of himself, as if it had deprived

"Dead," repeated Torres; "but this man, whom I knew a long time after his crime, and without knowing that

he was a convict, had written out at length, in his own hand, the story of this affair of the diamonds, even to

the smallest details. Feeling his end approaching, he was seized with remorse. He knew where Joam Dacosta

had taken refuge, and under what name the innocent man had again begun a new life. He knew that he was

rich, in the bosom of a happy family, but he knew also that there was no happiness for him. And this

happiness he desired to add to the reputation to which he was entitled. But death camehe intrusted to me,

his companion, to do what he could no longer do. He gave me the proofs of Dacosta's innocence for me to

Joam Garral was ready to throw himself on Torres, to search him, to snatch from him the proofs of his

"The writing is in a safe place," replied Torres, "and you will not have it until your daughter has become my

"Yes," replied Joam, "but in return for that paper the half of my fortune is yours."

"The half of your fortune?" exclaimed Torres; "agreed, on condition that Minha brings it to me at her

"And it is thus that you respect the wishes of a dying man, of a criminal tortured by remorse, and who has

"It will be your ruin, then, Joam Garral. Everything accuses you in the proceedings that have already taken

place. You are condemned to death, and you know, in sentences for crimes of that nature, the government is

forbidden the right of commuting the penalty. Denounced, you are taken; taken, you are executed. And I will

Master as he was of himself, Joam could stand it no longler. He was about to rush on Torres.

"Take care," said Torres, "your wife knows not that she is the wife of Joam Dacosta, your children do not

know they are the children of Joam Dacosta, and you are not going to give them the information."

Joam Garral stopped himself. He regained his usual command over himself, and his features recovered their

"This discussion has lasted long enough," said he, moving toward the door, "and I know what there is left for

"Take care, Joam Garral!" said Torres, for the last time, for he could scarcely believe that his ignoble attempt

Joam Garral made him no answer. He threw back the door which opened under the veranda, made a sign to

Torres to follow him, and they advanced toward the center of the jangada, where the family were assembled.

Benito, Manoel, and all of them, under a feeling of deep anxiety, had risen. They could see that the bearing of

In extraordinary contrast, Joam Garral was master of himself, and almost smiling.

Both of them stopped before Yaquita and her people. Not one dared to say a word to them.

It was Torres who, in a hollow voice, and with his customary impudence, broke the painful silence.

"Yaquita," he said, "peculiar circumstances oblige me to alter what we have formerly decided as to the

Joam Garral, without answering him, shot at the adventurer a glance of the deepest scorn.

But at the words Manoel had felt his heart beat as if it would break. The girl arose, ashy pale, as if she would

seek shelter by the side of her mother. Yaquita opened her arms to protect, to defend her.

"Father," said Benito, who had placed himself between Joam Garral and Torres, "what were you going to

"I was going to say," answered Joam Garral, raising his voice, "that to wait for our arrival in Para for the

wedding of Minha and Manoel is to wait too long. The marriage will take place here, not later than

tomorrow, on the jangada, with the aid of Padre Passanha, if, after a conversation I am about to have with

"Wait a little before you call me so, Manoel," replied Joam, in a tone of unspeakable suffering.

Here Torres, with crossed arms, gave the whole family a look of inconceivable insolence.

"This, Torres. I am master here. You will be off, if you please, and even if you do not please, and leave the

"No threats," he said; "they are of no use. It suits me also to land, and without delay. But you will remember

"If it only depends on me," answered Joam Garral, "we shall soon meet, and rather sooner, perhaps, than you

will like. Tomorrow I shall be with Judge Ribeiro, the first magistrate of the province, whom I have advised

And then, showing the pirogue to Torres, with a gesture of supreme contempt Joam Garral ordered four of his

The family, who were still appalled, respected the silence of its chief; but Fragoso, comprehending scarce

half the gravity of the situation, and carried away by his customary vivacity, came up to Joam Garral.

"If the wedding of Miss Minha and Mr. Manoel is to take place tomorrow on the raft"

The interview between Joam and Manoel had lasted for half an hour, and it seemed a century to the family,

Going up to Yaquita, he said, "My mother!" to Minha he said, "My wife!" and to Benito he said, "My

He knew all that had passed between Joam Garral and Torres. He knew that, counting on the protection of

Judge Ribeiro, by means of a correspondence which he had had with him for a year past without speaking of

it to his people, Joam Garral had at last succeeded in clearing himself and convincing him of his innocence.

He knew that Joam Garral had boldly undertaken the voyage with the sole object of canceling the hateful

proceedings of which he had been the victim, so as not to leave on his daughter and soninlaw the weight of

Yes, Manoel knew all this, and, further, he knew that Joam Garralor rather Joam Dacostawas innocent,

and his misfortunes made him even dearer and more devoted to him. What he did not know was that the

material proof of the innocence of the fazender existed, and that this proof was in the hands of Torres. Joam

Garral wished to reserve for the judge himself the use of this proof, which, if the adventurer had spoken truly,

Manoel confined himself, then, to announcing that he was going to Padre Passanha to ask him to get things

Next day, the 24th of August, scarcely an hour before the ceremony was to take place, a large pirogue came

off from the left bank of the river and hailed the jangada. A dozen paddlers had swiftly brought it from

Manaos, and with a few men it carried the chief of the police, who made himself known and came on board.

At the moment Joam Garral and his family, attired for the ceremony, were coming out of the house.

"Joam Garral," continued the chief of the police, "you have also been Joam Dacosta; both names have been

At these words Yaquita and Minha, struck with stupor, stopped without any power to move.

"I will only ask you one question," said Joam with firm voice, addressing the chief of police. "Has the

warrant in virtue of which you arrest me been issued against me by the justice at Manaosby Judge

"No," answered the chief of the police, "it was given to me, with an order for its immediate execution, by his

substitute. Judge Ribeiro was struck with apoplexy yesterday evening, and died during the night at two

But soon raising his head, he said to his wife and children, "Judge Ribeiro alone knew that I was innocent,

my dear ones. The death of the judge may be fatal to me, but that is no reason for me to despair."

And, turning toward Manoel, "Heaven help us!" he said to him; "we shall see if truth will come down to the

The chief of the police made a sign to his men, who advanced to secure Joam Garral.

"But speak, father!" shouted Benito, mad with despair; "say one word, and we shall contest even by force this

"There is no mistake here, my son," replied Joam Garral; "Joam Dacosta and Joam Garral are one. I am in

truth Joam Dacosta! I am the honest man whom a legal error unjustly doomed to death twentyfive years ago

in the place of the true culprit! That I am quite innocent I swear before Heaven, once for all, on your heads,

"All communication between you and yours is now forbidden," said the chief of the police. "You are my

It seemed, indeed, as though of all present Joam Garral was the only one whom this fearful thunderbolt,

THE TOWN of Manaos is in 3� 8' 4" south latitude, and 67� 27' west longitude, reckoning from the Paris

meridian. It is some four hundred and twenty leagues from Belem, and about ten miles from the embouchure

Manaos is not built on the Amazon. It is on the left bank of the Rio Negro, the most important and

remarkable of all the tributaries of the great artery of Brazil, that the capital of the province, with its

picturesque group of private houses and public buildings, towers above the surrounding plain.

The Rio Negro, which was discovered by the Spaniard Favella in 1645, rises in the very heart of the province

of Popayan, on the flanks of the mountains which separate Brazil from New Grenada, and it communicates

After a noble course of some seventeen hundred miles it mingles its cloudy waters with those of the Amazon

through a mouth eleven hundred feet wide, but such is its vigorous influx that many a mile has to be

completed before those waters lose their distinctive character. Hereabouts the ends of both its banks trend off

and form a huge bay fifteen leagues across, extending to the islands of Anavilhanas; and in one of its

indentations the port of Manaos is situated. Vessels of all kinds are there collected in great numbers, some

moored in the stream awaiting a favorable wind, others under repair up the numerous iguarapes, or canals,

which so capriciously intersect the town, and give it its slightly Dutch appearance.

With the introduction of steam vessels, which is now rapidly taking place, the trade of Manaos is destined to

increase enormously. Woods used in building and furniture work, cocoa, caoutchouc, coffee, sarsaparilla,

sugarcanes, indigo, muscado nuts, salt fish, turtle butter, and other commodities, are brought here from all

parts, down the innumerable streams into the Rio Negro from the west and north, into the Madeira from the

west and south, and then into the Amazon, and by it away eastward to the coast of the Atlantic.

Manaos was formerly called Moura, or Barra de Rio Negro. From 1757 to 1804 it was only part of the

captaincy which bears the name of the great river at whose mouth it is placed; but since 1826 it has been the

capital of the large province of Amazones, borrowing its latest name from an Indian tribe which formerly

Careless travelers have frequently confounded it with the famous Manoa, a city of romance, built, it was

reported, near the legendary lake of Parimawhich would seem to be merely the Upper Branco, a tributary

of the Rio Negro. Here was the Empire of El Dorado, whose monarch, if we are to believe the fables of the

district, was every morning covered with powder of gold, there being so much of the precious metal

abounding in this privileged locality that it was swept up with the very dust of the streets. This assertion,

however, when put to the test, was disproved, and with extreme regret, for the auriferous deposits which had

deceived the greedy scrutiny of the goldseekers turned out to be only worthless flakes of mica!

In short, Manaos has none of the fabulous splendors of the mythical capital of El Dorado. It is an ordinary

town of about five thousand inhabitants, and of these at least three thousand are in government employ. This

fact is to be attributed to the number of its public buildings, which consist of the legislative chamber, the

government house, the treasury, the postoffice, and the customhouse, and, in addition, a college founded in

1848, and a hospital erected in 1851. When with these is also mentioned a cemetery on the south side of a

hill, on which, in 1669, a fortress, which has since been demolished, was thrown up against the pirates of the

Amazon, some idea can be gained as to the importance of the official establishments of the city. Of religious

buildings it would be difficult to find more than two, the small Church of the Conception and the Chapel of

Notre Dame des Remedes, built on a knoll which overlooks the town. These are very few for a town of

Spanish origin, though to them should perhaps be added the Carmelite Convent, burned down in 1850, of

which only the ruins remain. The population of Manaos does not exceed the number above given, and after

reckoning the public officials and soldiers, is principally made of up Portuguese and Indian merchants

Three principal thoroughfares of considerable irregularity run through the town, and they bear names highly

characteristic of the tone of thought prevalent in these partsGodtheFather Street, GodtheSon Street,

In the west of the town is a magnificent avenue of centenarian orange trees which were carefully respected by

the architects who out of the old city made the new. Round these principal thoroughfares is interwoven a

perfect network of unpaved alleys, intersected every now and then by four canals, which are occasionally

crossed by wooden bridges. In a few places these iguarapes flow with their brownish waters through large

vacant spaces covered with straggling weeds and flowers of startling hues, and here and there are natural

squares shaded by magnificent trees, with an occasional whitebarked sumaumeira shooting up, and

The private houses have to be sought for among some hundreds of dwellings, of very rudimentary type, some

roofed with tiles, others with interlaced branches of the palmtree, and with prominent miradors, and

And what manner of people are they who stroll on to the fashionable promenade from the public buildings

and private residences? Men of good appearance, with black cloth coats, chimneypot hats, patentleather

boots, highlycolored gloves, and diamond pins in their necktie bows; and women in loud, imposing toilets,

with flounced dressed and headgear of the latest style; and Indians, also on the road to Europeanization in a

way which bids fair to destroy every bit of local color in this central portion of the district of the Amazon!

Such is Manaos, which, for the benefit of the reader, it was necessary to sketch. Here the voyage of the giant

raft, so tragically interrupted, had just come to a pause in the midst of its long journey, and here will be

unfolded the further vicissitudes of the mysterious history of the fazender of Iquitos.

SCARCELY HAD the pirogue which bore off Joam Garral, or rather Joam Dacostafor it is more

convenient that he should resume his real namedisappeared, than Benito stepped up to Manoel.

"I know that your father is innocent! Yes, innocent!" replied Manoel, "and that he was sentenced to death

"All about it," replied the young man. "The noble fazender did not wish that any part of his past life should be

"That proof, Benito, lies wholly in the twentythree years of an honorable and honored life, lies entirely in

the bearing of Joam Dacosta, who comes forward to say to justice, 'Here am I! I do not care for this false

existence any more. I do not care to hide under a name which is not my true one! You have condemned an

"And when my father spoke like that, you did not hesitate for a moment to believe him?"

"Padre," he said, "take my mother and sister away to their rooms. Do not leave them all day. No one here

doubts my father's innocencenot one, you know that! Tomorrow my mother and I will seek out the chief

of the police. They will not refuse us permission to visit the prison. No! that would be too cruel. We will see

my father again, and decide what steps shall be taken to procure his vindication."

Yaquita was almost helpless, but the brave woman, though nearly crushed by this sudden blow, arose. With

Yaquita Dacosta it was as with Yaquita Garral. She had not a doubt as to the innocence of her husband. The

idea even never occurred to her that Joam Dacosta had been to blame in marrying her under a name which

was not his own. She only thought of the life of happiness she had led with the noble man who had been

injured so unjustly. Yes! On the morrow she would go to the gate of the prison, and never leave it until it was

Padre Passanha took her and her daughter, who could not restrain her tears, and the tree entered the house.

"And so, when we first met Torres in the forest of Iquitos, his plan had already been formed to enter into

"There cannot be a doubt of it," replied Manoel. "The scoundrel was on his way to the fazenda with the idea

of consummating a vile scheme of extortion which he had been preparing for a long time."

"And when he learned from us that my father and his whole family were about to pass the frontier, he

"Yes. Because Joam Dacosta once in Brazilian territory became more at his mercy than while within the

frontiers of Peru. That is why we found Torres at Tabatinga, where he was waiting in expectation of our

"And it was I who offered him a passage on the raft!" exclaimed Benito, with a gesture of despair.

"Brother," said Manoel, "you need not reproach yourself. Torres would have joined us sooner or later. He was

not the man to abandon such a trail. Had we lost him at Tabatinga, we should have found him at Manaos."

"Yes, Manoel, you are right. But we are not concerned with the past now. We must think of the present. An

end to useless recriminations! Let us see!" And while speaking, Benito, passing his hand across his forehead,

"How," he asked, "did Torres ascertain that my father had been sentenced twentythree years back for this

"I do not know," answered Manoel, "and everything leads me to think that your father did not know that."

"And he knew that it was in Peru, at Iquitos, that for so many years my father had taken refuge?"

"One more question," continued Benito. "What was the proposition that Torres made to my father during the

"He threatened to denounce Joam Garral as being Joam Dacosta, if he declined to purchase his silence."

"At the price of his daughter's hand!" answered Manoel unhesitatingly, but pale with anger.

"Yes, Manoel, yes! The indignant reply of an honest man. He kicked Torres off the raft. But it is not enough

to have kicked him out. No! That will not do for me. It was on Torres' information that they came here and

"Very well," continued Benito, shaking his fist toward the left bank of the river, "I must find out Torres. I

must know how he became master of the secret. He must tell me if he knows the real author of this crime. He

"What you will have to do is for me to do as well!" added Manoel, more coolly, but not less reolutely.

"We are brothers, Benito," replied Manoel. "The right of demanding an explanation belongs to us both."

At this moment the pilot Araujo, who had been observing the state of the river, came up to them.

"Have you decided," he asked, "if the raft is to remain at her moorings at the Isle of Muras, or to go on to the

The question had to be decided before nightfall, and the sooner it was settled the better.

In fact, the news of the arrest of Joam Dacosta ought already to have spread through the town. That it was of

a nature to excite the interest of the population of Manaos could scarcely be doubted. But would it provoke

more than curiosity against the condemned man, who was the principal author of the crime of Tijuco, which

had formerly created such a sensation? Ought they not to fear that some popular movement might be directed

against the prisoner? In the face of this hypothesis was it not better to leave the jangada moored near the Isle

"No!" at length exclaimed Benito; "to remain here would look as though we were abandoning my father and

doubting his innocenceas though we were afraid to make common cause with him. We must go to Manaos,

Araujo, with an approving nod, began his preparations for leaving the island. The maneuver necessitated a

good deal of care. They had to work the raft slantingly across the current of the Amazon, here doubled in

force by that of the Rio Negro, and to make for the embouchure of the tributary about a dozen miles down on

The ropes were cast off from the island. The jangada, again started on the river, began to drift off diagonally.

Araujo, cleverly profiting by the bendings of the current, which were due to the projections of the banks, and

assisted by the long poles of his crew, succeeded in working the immense raft in the desired direction.

In two hours the jangada was on the other side of the Amazon, a little above the mouth of the Rio Negro, and

fairly in the current which was to take it to the lower bank of the vast bay which opened on the left side of the

At five o'clock in the evening it was strongly moored alongside this bank, not in the port of Manaos itself,

which it could not enter without stemming a rather powerful current, but a short mile below it.

The raft was then in the black waters of the Rio Negro, near rather a high bluff covered with cecropias with

buds of reddishbrown, and palisaded with stiffstalked reeds called "froxas," of which the Indians make

A few citizens were strolling about the bank. A feeling of curiosity had doubtless attracted them to the

anchorage of the raft. The news of the arrest of Joam Dacosta had soon spread about, but the curiosity of the

"Wait till tomorrow," he said; "night is approaching, and there is no necessity for us to leave the raft."

And here Yaquita, followed by her daughter and Padre Passanha, came out of the house. Minha was still

weeping, but her mother's face was tearless, and she had that look of calm resolution which showed that the

wife was now ready for all things, either to do her duty or to insist on her rights.

"Manoel," she said, "listen to what I have to say, for my conscience commands me to speak as I am about to

Yaquita, looking him straight in the face, continued: "Yesterday, after the interview you had with Joam

Dacosta, my husband, you came to me and called memother! You took Minha's hand, and called

heryour wife! You then knew everything, and the past life of Joam Dacosta had been disclosed to you."

"Yes," answered Manoel, "and heaven forbid I should have had any hesitation in doing so!"

"Perhaps so," replied Yaquita; "but then Joam Dacosta had not been arrested. The position is not now the

same. However innocent he may be, my husband is in the hands of justice; his past life has been publicly

"Minha Dacosta or Minha Garral, what matters it to me?" exclaimed Manoel, who could keep silent no

It was all Yaquita could say, and the tears, which she restrained with difficulty, filled her eyes.

And then they all reentered the house. But during the long night not an hour's sleep fell to the lot of the

JOAM DACOSTA had relied entirely on Judge Albeiro, and his death was most unfortunate.

Before he was judge at Manaos, and chief magistrate in the province, Ribeiro had known the young clerk at

the time he was being prosecuted for the murder in the diamond arrayal. He was then an advocate at Villa

Rica, and he it was who defended the prisoner at the trial. He took the cause to heart and made it his own, and

from an examination of the papers and detailed information, and not from the simple fact of his position in

the matter, he came to the conclusion that his client was wrongfully accused, and that he had taken not the

slightest part in the murder of the escort or the theft of the diamondsin a word, that Joam Dacosta was

But, notwithstanding this conviction, notwithstanding his talent and zeal, Ribeiro was unable to persuade the

jury to take the same view of the matter. How could he remove so strong a presumption? If it was not Joam

Dacosta, who had every facility for informing the scoundrels of the convoy's departure, who was it? The

official who acocmpanied the escort had perished with the greater part of the soldiers, and suspicion could

not point against him. Everything agreed in distinguishing Dacosta as the true and only author of the crime.

Ribeiro defended him with great warmth and with all his powers, but he could not succeed in saving him. The

verdict of the jury was affirmative on all the questions. Joam Dacosta, convicted of aggravated and

premeditated murder, did not even obtain the benefit of extenuating circumstances, and heard himself

There was no hope left for the accused. No commutation of the sentence was possible, for the crime was

committed in the diamond arrayal. The condemned man was lost. But during the night which preceded his

execution, and when the gallows was already erected, Joam Dacosta managed to escape from the prison at

Twenty years later Ribeiro the advocate became the chief justice of Manaos. In the depths of his retreat the

fazender of Iquitos heard of the change, and in it saw a favorable opportunity for bringing forward the

revision of the former proceedings against him with some chance of success. He knew that the old

convictions of the advocate would be still unshaken in the mind of the judge. He therefore resolved to try and

rehabilitate himself. Had it not been for Ribeiro's nomination to the chief justiceship in the province of

Amazones, he might perhaps have hesitated, for he had no new material proof of his innocence to bring

forward. Although the honest man suffered acutely, he might still have remained hidden in exile at Iquitos,

and still have asked for time to smother the remembrances of the horrible occurrence, but something was

In fact, before Yaquita had spoken to him, Joam Dacosta had noticed that Manoel was in love with his

The union of the young army doctor and his daughter was in every respect a suitable one. It was evident to

Joam that some day or other he would be asked for her hand in marriage, and he did not wish to be obliged to

But then the thought that his daughter would have to marry under a name which did not belong to her, that

Manoel Valdez, thinking he was entering the family of Garral, would enter that of Dacosta, the head of which

was under sentence of death, was intolerable to him. No! The wedding should not take place unless under

Let us recall what had happened up to this time. Four years after the young clerk, who eventually became the

partner of Magalha�s, had arrived at Iquitos, the old Portuguese had been taken back to the farm mortally

injured. A few days only were left for him to live. He was alarmed at the thought that his daughter would be

left alone and unprotected; but knowing that Joam and Yaquita were in love with each other, he desired their

Joam at first refused. He offered to remain the protector or the servant of Yaquita without becoming her

husband. The wish of the dying Magalha�s was so urgent that resistance became impossible. Yaquita put her

Yes! It was a serious matter! Joam Dacosta ought to have confessed all, or to have fled forever from the

house in which he had been so hospitably received, from the establishment of which he had built up the

prosperity! Yes! To confess everything rather than to give to the daughter of his benefactor a name which

was not his, instead of the name of a felon condemned to death for murder, innocent though he might be!

But the case was pressing, the old fazender was on the point of death, his hands were stretched out toward the

young people! Joam was silent, the marriage took place, and the remainder of his life was devoted to the

"The day when I confess everything," Joam repeated, "Yaquita will pardon everything! She will not doubt me

for an instant! But if I ought not to have deceived her, I certainly will not deceive the honest fellow who

wishes to enter our family by marrying Mina! No! I would rather give myself up and have done with this

Many times had Joam thought of telling his wife about his past life. Yes! the avowal was on his lips

whenever she asked him to take her into Brazil, and with her and her daughter descend the beautiful Amazon

river. He knew sufficient of Yaquita to be sure that her affection for him would not thereby be diminished in

And this is easily intelligible in the face of the happiness of the family, which increased on every side. This

Such had been his life for those long years; such had been the continuous source of his sufferings, of which

he had kept the secret so well; such had been the existence of this man, who had no action to be ashamed of,

But at length the day arrived when there could no longer remain a doubt as to the affection which Manoel

bore to Minha, when he could see that a year would not go by before he was asked to give his consent to her

marriage, and after a short delay he no longer hesitated to proceed in the matter.

A letter from him, addressed to Judge Ribeiro, acquainted the chief justice with the secret of the existence of

Joam Dacosta, with the name under which he was concealed, with the place where he lived with his family,

and at the same time with his formal intention of delivering himself up to justice, and taking steps to procure

the revision of the proceedings, which would either result in his rehabilitation or in the execution of the

What were the feelings which agitated the heart of the worthy magistrate? We can easily divine them. It was

no longer to the advocate that the accused applied; it was to the chief justice of the province that the convict

appealed. Joam Dacosta gave himself over to him entirely, and did not even ask him to keep the secret.

Judge Ribeiro was at first troubled about this unexpected revelation, but he soon recovered himself, and

scrupulously considered the duties which the position imposed on him. It was his place to pursue criminals,

and here was one who delivered himself into his hands. This criminal, it was true, he had defended; he had

never doubted but that he had been unjustly condemned; his joy had been extreme when he saw him escape

by flight from the last penalty; he had even instigated and facilitated his flight! But what the advocate had

"Well, yes!" had the judge said, "my conscience tells me not to abandon this just man. The step he is taking is

a fresh proof of his innocence, a moral proof, even if he brings me others, which may be the most convincing

From this day forward a secret correspondence took place between the magistrate and Joam Dacosta. Ribeiro

at the outset cautioned his client against compromising himself by any imprudence. He had again to work up

the matter, again to read over the papers, again to look through the inquiries. He had to find out if any new

facts had come to light in the diamond province referring to so serious a case. Had any of the accomplices of

the crime, of the smugglers who had attacked the convoy, been arrested since the attempt? Had any

confessions or halfconfessions been brought forward? Joam Dacosta had done nothing but protest his

innocence from the very first. But that was not enough, and Judge Ribeiro was desirous of finding in the case

Joam Dacosta had accordingly been prudent. He had promised to be so. But in all his trials it was an immense

consolation for him to find his old advocate, though now a chief justice, so firmly convinced that he was not

guilty. Yes! Joam Dacosta, in spite of his condemnation, was a victim, a martyr, an honest man to whom

society owed a signal reparation! And when the magistrate knew the past career of the fazender of Iquitos

since his sentence, the position of his family, all that life of devotion, of work, employed unceasingly for the

happiness of those belonging to him, he was not only more convinced but more affected, and determined to

"In two months I will be with you, in the power of the chief justice of the province!"

The jangada was then ready to go down the river. Joam Dacosta embarked on it with all his people. During

the voyage, to the great astonishment of his wife and son, he landed but rarely, as we know. More often he

remained shut up on his room, writing, working, not at his trading accounts, but, without saying anything

about it, at a kind of memoir, which he called "The History of My Life," and which was meant to be used in

Eight days before his new arrest, made on account of information given by Torres, which forestalled and

perhaps would ruin his prospects, he intrusted to an Indian on the Amazon a letter, in which he warned Judge

The letter was sent and delivered as addressed, and the magistrate only waited for Joam Dacosta to

commence on the serious undertaking which he hoped to bring to a successful issue.

During the night before the arrival of the raft at Manaos Judge Ribeiro was seized with an attack of apoplexy.

But the denunciation of Torres, whose scheme of extortion had collapsed in face of the noble anger of his

victim, had produced its effect. Joam Dacosta was arrested in the bosom of his family, and his old advocate

Yes, the blow was terrible indeed. His lot was cast, whatever his fate might be; there was no going back for

him! And Joam Dacosta rose from beneath the blow which had so unexpectedly struck him. It was not only

THE WARRANT against Joam Dacosta, alias Joam Garral, had been issued by the assistant of Judge Ribeiro,

who filled the position of the magistrate in the province of Amazones, until the nomination of the successor

This assistant bore the name of Vicente Jarriquez. He was a surly little fellow, whom forty years' practice in

criminal procedure had not rendered particularly friendly toward those who came before him. He had had so

many cases of this sort, and tried and sentenced so many rascals, that a prisoner's innocence seemed to him �

priori inadmissable. To be sure, he did not come to a decision unconscientiously; but his conscience was

strongly fortified and was not easily affected by the circumstances of the examination or the arguments for

the defense. Like a good many judges, he thought but little of the indulgence of the jury, and when a prisoner

was brought before him, after having passed through the sieve of inquest, inquiry, and examination, there was

Jarriquez, however, was not a bad man. Nervous, fidgety, talkative, keen, crafty, he had a curious look about

him, with his big head on his little body; his ruffled hair, which would not have disgraced the judges wig of

the past; his piercing gimletlike eyes, with their expression of surprising acuteness; his prominent nose, with

which he would assuredly have gesticulated had it been movable; his ears wide open, so as to better catch all

that was said, even when it was out of range of ordinary auditory apparatus; his fingers unceasingly tapping

the table in front of him, like those of a pianist practicing on the mute; and his body so long and his legs so

short, and his feet perpetually crossing and recrossing, as he sat in state in his magistrate's chair.

In private life, Jarriquez, who was a confirmed old bachelor, never left his lawbooks but for the table which

he did not despise; for chess, of which he was a past master; and above all things for Chinese puzzles,

enigmas, charades, rebuses, anagrams, riddles, and such things, with which, like more than one European

justicethorough sphinxes by taste as well as by professionhe principally passed his leisure.

It will be seen that he was an original, and it will be seen also how much Joam Dacosta had lost by the death

of Judge Ribeiro, inasmuch as his case would come before this not very agreeable judge.

Moreover, the task of Jarriquez was in a way very simple. He had either to inquire nor to rule; he had not

even to regulate a discussion nor to obtain a verdict, neither to apply the articles of the penal code nor to

pronounce a sentence. Unfortunately for the fazender, such formalities were no longer necessary; Joam

Dacosta had been arrested, convicted, and sentenced twentythree years ago for the crime at Tijuco; no

limitation had yet affected his sentence. No demand in commutation of the penalty could be introduced, and

no appeal for mercy could be received. It was only necessary then to establish his identity, and as soon as the

But in the nature of things Joam Dacosta would protest his innocence; he would say he had been unjustly

condemned. The magistrate's duty, notwithstanding the opinions he held, would be to listen to him. The

question would be, what proofs could the convict offer to make good his assertions? And if he was not able to

produce them when he appeared before his first judges, was he able to do so now?

Herein consisted all the interest of the examination. There would have to be admitted the fact of a defaulter,

prosperous and safe in a foreign country, leaving his refuge of his won free will to face the justice which his

past life should have taught him to dread, and herein would be on of those rare and curious cases which ought

to interest even a magistrate hardened with all the surroundings of forensic strife. Was it impudent folly on

the part of the doomed man of Tijuco, who was tired of his life, or was it the impulse of a conscience which

would at all risks have wrong set right? The problem was a strange one, it must be acknowledged.

On the morrow of Joam Dacosta's arrest, Judge Jarriquez made his way to the prison in GodtheSon Street,

where the convict had been placed. The prison was an old missionary convent, situated on the bank of one of

the principal iguarapes of the town. To the voluntary prisoners of former times there had succeeded in this

building, which was but little adapted for the purpose, the compulsory prisoners of today. The room

occupied by Joam Dacosta was nothing like one of those sad little cells which form part of our modern

penitentiary system: but an old monk's room, with a barred window without shutters, opening on to an

uncultivated space, a bench in one corner, and a kind of pallet in the other. It was from this apartment that

Joam Dacosta, on this 25th of August, about eleven o'clock in the morning, was taken and brought into the

Judge Jarriquez was there in front of his desk, perched on his high chair, his back turned toward the window,

so that his face was in shadow while that of the accused remained in full daylight. His clerk, with the

indifference which characterizes these legal folks, had taken his seat at the end of the table, his pen behind his

Joam Dacosta was introduced into the room, and at a sign from the judge the guards who had brought him

Judge Jarriquez looke at the accused for some time. The latter, leaning slightly forward and maintaining a

becoming attitude, neither careless nor humble, waited with dignity for the questions to which he was

"Because for twentythree years I wished to hide myself from the pursuit of Brazilian justice."

The answers were so exact, and seemed to show that Joam Dacosta had made up his mind to confess

everything concerning his past and present life, that Judge Jarriquez, little accustomed to such a course,

All this was said with great calmness, and as simply as possible. The little eyes of Judge Jarriquez, hidden by

He had put the invariable question which had hitherto brought the invariable reply from culprits of every

category protesting their innocence. The fingers of the judge began to beat a gentle tattoo on the table.

"I was a fazender, and engaged in managing a farming establishment of considerable size."

"As to that, sir," answered Dacosta, "I invented a pretext, but in reality I had a motive."

"The responsibility of taking into Para a large raft, and a cargo of different products of the Amazon."

"The real motive," replied Joam Dacosta, in a firm voice, "was the resolution I had taken to give myself up to

"You give yourself up!" exclaimed the judge, rising from his stool. "You give yourself up of your own free

"Because I had had enough of this lying life, this obligatin to live under a false name, of this impossibility to

be able to restore to my wife and children that which belongs to them; in short, sir, because"

And while his fingers tattooed a slightly more audible march, he made a sign with his head to Dacosta, which

signified as clearly as possible, "Go on! Tell me your history. I know it, but I do not wish to interrupt you in

Joam Dacosta, who did not disregard the magistrate's far from encouraging attitude, could not but see this,

and he told the history of his whole life. He spoke quietly without departing from the calm he had imposed

upon himself, without omitting any circumstances which had preceded or succeeded his condemnation. In the

same tone he insisted on the honored and honorable life he had led since his escape, on his duties as head of

his family, as husband and father, which he had so worthily fulfilled. He laid stress only on one

circumstancethat which had brought him to Manaos to urge on the revision of the proceedings against him,

Judge Jarriques, who was naturally prepossessed against all criminals, did not interrupt him. He contented

himself with opening and shutting his eyes like a man who heard the story told for the hundredth time; and

when Joam Dacosta laid on the table the memoir which he had drawn up, he made no movement to take it.

"And you persist in asserting that you only left Iquitos to procure the revision of the judgment against you."

"What is there to prove that? Who can prove that, without the denunciation which had brought about your

"That memoir was in your possession, and there is nothing to show that had you not been arrested, you would

"At the least, sir, there was one thing that was not in my possession, and of the authenticity of which there

"The letter I wrote to your predecessor, Judge Ribeiro, the letter which gave him notice of my early arrival."

"Yes. And the letter which ought to have arrived at its destination should have been handed over to you."

"Really!" answered Judge Jarriquez, in a slightly incredulous tone. "You wrote to Judge Ribeiro."

"Before he was a judge in this province," answered Joam Dacosta, "he was an advocate at Villa Rica. He it

was who defended me in the trial at Tijuco. He never doubted of the justice of my cause. He did all he could

to save me. Twenty years later, when he had become chief justice at Manaos, I let him know who I was,

where I was, and what I wished to attempt. His opinion about me had not changed, and it was at his advice I

left the fazenda, and came in person to proceed with my rehabilitation. But death had unfortunately struck

him, and maybe I shall be lost, sir, if in Judge Jarriquez I do not find another Judge Ribeiro."

The magistrate, appealed to so directly, was about to start up in defiance of all the traditions of the judicial

At this moment a guard entered the room, and handed a sealed packet to the magistrate.

He broke the seal and drew a letter from the envelope. He opened it and read it, not without a certain

"I have no reason for hiding from you, Joam Dacosta, that this is the letter you have been speaking about,

addressed by you to Judge Ribeiro and sent on to me. I have, therefore, no reason to doubt what you have

"Not only on that subject," answered Dacosta, "but on the subject of all the circumstances of my life which I

"Eh! Joam Dacosta," quickly replie dJudge Jarriquez. "You protest your innocence; but all prisoners do as

much! After all, you only offer moral presumptions. Have you any material proof?"

At these words, Judge Jarriquez left his chair. This was too much for him, and he had to take two or three

WHEN THE MAGISTRATE had again taken his place, like a man who considered he was perfectly master

of himself, he leaned back in his chair, and with his head raised and his eyes looking straight in front, as

though not even noticing the accused, remarked, in a tone of the most perfect indifference:

Joam Dacosta reflected for a minute as if hesitating to resume the order of his thoughts, and then answered as

"Up to the present, sir, I have only given you moral presumptions of my innocence grounded on the dignity,

propriety, and honesty of the whole of my life. I should have thought that such proofs were those most

Judge Jarriquez could not restrain a movement of his shoulders, showing that such was not his opinion.

"Since they are not enough, I proceed with the material proofs which I shall perhaps be able to produce,"

continued Dacosta; "I say perhaps, for I do not yet know what credit to attach to them. And, sir, I have never

spoken of these things to my wife or children, not wishing to raise a hope which might be destroyed."

"I have every reason to believe, sir, that my arrest on the eve of the arrival of the raft at Manaos is due to

"You are not mistaken, Joam Dacosta, but I ought to tell you that the information is anonymous."

"It matters little, for I know that it could only come from a scoundrel called Torres."

"A scoundrel! Yes, sir!" replied Joam quickly. "This man, whom I received with hospitality, only came to me

to propose that I should purchase his silence to offer me an odious bargain that I shall never regret having

"Always this method!" thought Judge Jarriquez; "accusing others to clear himself."

But he none the less listened with extreme attention to Joam's recital of his relations with the adventurer up to

the moment when Torres let him know that he knew and could reveal the name of the true author of the crime

"And what is the name of the guilty man?" asked Jarriquez, shaken in his indifference.

"I do not know," answered Joam Dacosta. "Torres was too cautious to let it out."

The fingers of Judge Jarriquez tattooed more quickly, and he could not avoid exclaiming, "The man who can

"If the real culprit is dead, sir, " replied Dacosta, "Torres at least is living, and the proof, written throughout

in the handwriting of the author of the crime, he has assured me is in his hands! He offered to sell it to me!"

"Eh! Joam Dacosta!" answered Judge Jarriquez, "that would not have been dear at the cost of the whole of

"If Torres had only asked my fortune, I would have given it to him and not one of my people would have

demurred! Yes, you are right, sir; a man cannot pay too dearly for the redemption of his honor! But this

"My daughter's hand was to be the cost of the bargain! I refused; he denounced me, and that is why I am now

"And if Torres had not informed against you," asked Judge Jarriquez"if Torres had not met with you on

your voyage, what would you have done on learning on your arrival of the death of Judge Ribeiro? Would

"Without the slightest hesitation," replied Joam, in a firm voice; "for, I repeat it, I had no other object in

This was said in such a tone of truthfulness that Judge Jarriquez experienced a kind of feeling making its way

to that corner of the heart where convictions are formed, but he did not yet give in.

He could hardly help being astonished. A judge engaged merely in this examination, he knew nothing of what

is known by those who have followed this history, and who cannot doubt but that Torres held in his hands the

material proof of Joam Dacosta's innocence. They know that the document existed; that it contained this

evidence; and perhaps they may be led to think that Judge Jarriquez was pitilessly incredulous. But they

should remember that Judge Jarriquez was not in their position; that he was accustomed to the invariable

protestations of the culprits who came before him. The document which Joam Dacosta appealed to was not

produced; he did not really know if it actually existed; and to conclude, he had before him a man whose guilt

However, he wished, perhaps through curiosity, to drive Joam Dacosta behind his last entrenchments.

"And so," he said, "all your hope now rests on the declaration which has been made to you by Torres."

"And you hope that he will speakthat he will consent to goodnaturedly hand over to you the document for

"I hope so, sir," replied Joam Dacosta; "the situation now is not the same for Torres; he has denounced me,

and consequently he cannot retain any hope of resuming his bargaining under the previous conditions. But

this document might still be worth a fortune if, supposing I am acquitted or executed, it should ever escape

him. Hence his interest is to sell me the document, which can thus not injure him in any way, and I think he

The reasoning of Joam Dacosta was unanswerable, and Judge Jarriquez felt it to be so. He made the only

"The interest of Torres is doubtless to selel you the documentif the document exists."

"If it does not exist," answered Joam Dacosta, in a penetrating voice, "in trusting to the justice of men, I must

At these words Judge Jarriquez rose, and, in not quite such an indifferent tone, said, "Joam Dacosta, in

examining you here, in allowing you to relate the particulars of your past life and to protest your innocence, I

have gone further than my instructions allow me. An information has already been laid in this affair, and you

have appeared before the jury at Villa Rica, whose verdict was given unanimously, and without even the

addition of extenuating circumstances. You have been found guilty of the instigation of, and complicity in,

the murder of the soldiers and the robbery of the diamonds at Tijuco, the capital sentence was pronounced on

you, and it was only by flight that you escaped execution. But that you came here to deliver yourself over, or

not, to the hands of justice twentythree years afterward, you would never have been retaken. For the last

time, you admit that you are Joam Dacosta, the condemned man of the diamond arrayal?"

And with a hand without a tremble Joam Dacosta put his name to the foot of the declaration and the report

"The report, addressed to the minister of justice, is to be sent off to Rio Janeiro," said the magistrate. "Many

days will elapse before we receive orders to carry out your sentence. If then, as you say, Torres possesses the

proof of your innocence, do all you can yourselfdo all you can through your friendsdo everything, so

that that proof can be produced in time. Once the order arrives no delay will be possible, and justice must

"After today, if you wish," answered Judge Jarriquez; "you are no longer in close confinement, and they can

The magistrate then rang the bell. The guards entered the room, and took away Joam Dacosta.

WHILE JOAM DACOSTA was undergoing this examination, Yaquita, from an inquiry made by Manoel,

ascertained that she and her children would be permitted to see the prisoner that very day about four o'clock

Yaquita had not left her room since the evening before. Minha and Lina kept near her, waiting for the time

Yaquita Garral or Yaquita Dacosta, he would still find her the devoted wife and brave companion he had ever

About eleven o'clock in the morning Benito joined Manoel and Fragoso, who were talking in the bow of the

"What is the matter?" asked Manoel, looking at his friend, whose expression was that of a man who had come

"Yes, and know from him how he found out my father's retreat. There is something inexplicable about it. Did

he know it before? I cannot understand it, for my father never left Iquitos for more than twenty years, and this

scoundrel is hardly thirty! But the day will not close before I know it; or, woe to Torres!"

Benito's resolution admitted of no discussion; and besides, neither Manoel nor Fragoso had the slightest

"I will ask, then," continued Benito, "for both of you to accompany me. We shall start in a minute or two. It

will not do to wait till Torres has left Manaos. He has no longer got his silence to sell, and the idea might

And so all three of them landed on the bank of the Rio Negro and started for the town.

Manaos was not so considerable that it could not be searched in a few hours. They had made up their minds

to go from house to house, if necessary, to look for Torres, but their better plan seemed to be to apply in the

first instance to the keepers of the taverns and lojas where the adventurer was most likely to put up. There

could hardly be a doubt that the excaptain of the woods would not have given his name; he might have

personal reasons for avoiding all communication with the police. Nevertheless, unless he had left Manaos, it

was almost impossible for him to escape the young fellows' search. In any case, there would be no use in

applying to the police, for it was very probablein fact, we know that it actually was sothat the

For an hour Benito, Manoel, and Fragoso walked along the principal streets of the town, inquiring of the

tradesmen in their shops, the tavernkeepers in their cabarets, and even the bystanders, without any one being

Had Torres left Manaos? Would they have to give up all hope of coming across him?

In vain Manoel tried to calm Benito, whose head seemed on fire. Cost what it might, he must get at Torres!

Chance at last favored them, and it was Fragoso who put them on the right track.

In a tavern in Holy Ghost Street, from the description which the people received of the adventurer, they

replied that the individual inquestion had put up at the loja the evening before.

"By no means; he left his room about an hour ago, and he will doubtless come back to supper."

"We saw him turning toward the Amazon, going through the lower town, and you will probably meet him on

Fragoso did not want any more. A few seconds afterward he rejoined the young fellows, and said:

"No; he has just gone out, and they have seen him walking across to the bank of the Amazon."

They had to go back toward the river, and the shortest way was for them to take the left bank of the Rio

Benito and his companions soon left the last houses of the town behind, and followed the bank, making a

The plain was at this time deserted. Far away the view exstended across the flat, where cultivated fields had

Benito did not speak; he could not utter a word. Manoel and Fragoso respected his silence. And so the three

of them went along and looked about on all sides as they traversed the space between the bank of the Rio

Negro and that of the Amazon. Threequarters of an hour after leaving Manaos, and still they had seen

Once or twice Indians working in the fields were met with. Manoel questioned them, and one of them at

length told him that a man, such as he described, had just passed in the direction of the angle formed by the

Without waiting for more, Benito, by an irresistible movement, strode to the front, and his two companions

The left bank of the Amazon was then about a quarter of a mile off. A sort of cliff appeared ahead, hiding a

"Quicker! quicker!" said Manoel to Fragoso. "We must not leave him alone for an instant."

Had Benito caught sight of Torres? What had he seen? Had Benito and Torres already met?

Manoel and Fragoso, fifty paces further on, after swiftly running round one of the spurs of the bank, saw two

In an instant Manoel and Fragoso had hurried up to them. It might have been supposed that in Benito's state

of excitement he would be unable to restrain himself when he found himself once again in the presence of the

As soon as the young man saw himself face to face with Torres, and was certain that he could not escape, a

complete change took place in his manner, his coolness returned, and he became once more master of

Torres first broke silence, and, in the impudent tone habitual to him, remarked:

"Quite so," continued Torres. "Mr. Benito Dacosta, accompanied by Mr. Manoel Valdez and my friend

At the irritating qualification thus accorded him by the adventurer, Fragoso, who was by no means loath to do

him some damage, was about to rush to the attack, when Benito, quite unmoved, held him back.

"What is the matter with you, my lad?" exclaimed Torres, retreating for a few steps. "I think I had better put

And as he spoke he drew from beneath his poncho his manchetta, the weapon, adapted at will for offense or

defense, which a Brazilian is never without. And then, slightly stooping, and planted firmly on his feet, he

"I have come to look for you, Torres," said Benito, who had not stirred in the least at this threatening attitude.

"To look for me?" answered the adventurer. "It is not very difficult to find me. And why have you come to

"To know from your own lips what you appear to know of the past life of my father."

"Yes. I want to know how you recognized him, why yu were prowling about our fazenda in the forest of

"Well! it seems to me nothing could be clearer!" answered Torres, with a grin. "I was waiting to get a passage

on the jangada, and I went on board with the intention of making him a very simple propositionwhich

At these words Manoel could stand it no longer. With pale face and eye of fire he strode up to Torres.

Benito, wishing to exhaust every means of conciliation, thrust himself between them.

"Quite so, Torres; I know the reason of your coming on board the raft. Possessed of a secret which was

doubtless given to you, you wanted to make it a means of extortion. But that is not what I want to know at

"How I recognized him?" replied Torres. "That is my business, and I see no reason why I should tell you. The

important fact is, that I was not mistaken when I denounced in him the real author of the crime of Tijuco!"

"I will tell you nothing," returned Torres; "Joam Dacosta declined my propositions! He refused to admit me

into his family! Well! now that his secret is known, now that he is a prisoner, it is I who refuse to enter his

family, the family of a thief, of a murderer, of a condemned felon, for whom the gallows now waits!"

"Scoundrel!" exclaimed Benito, who drew his manchetta from his belt and put himself in position.

"Really! I should have thought an assassination would have better suited an assassin's son!"

"Torres!" exclaimed Benito, "defend yourself, or I will kill you like a mad dog!"

"Mad! so be it!" answered Torres. "But I bite, Benito Dacosta, and beware of the wounds!"

And then again grasping his manchetta, he put himself on guard and ready to attack his enemy.

"Torres," he said, regaining all his coolness, which for a moment he had lost; "you were the guest of my

father, you threatened him, you betrayed him, you denounced him, you accused an innocent man, and with

Torres replied with the most insolent smile imaginable. Perhaps at the moment the scoundrel had an idea of

stopping any struggle between Benito and him, and he could have done so. In fact he had seen that Joam

Dacosta had said nothing about the document which formed the material proof of his innocence.

Had he revealed to Benito that he, Torres, possessed this proof, Benito would have been that instant

disarmed. But his desire to wait till the very last moment, so as to get the very best price for the document he

possessed, the recollection of the young man's insulting words, and the hate which he bore to all that

In addition to being thoroughly accustomed to the manchetta, which he often had had occasion to use, the

adventurer was strong, active, and artful, so that against an adversary who was scarcely twenty, who could

have neither his strength nor his dexgterity, the chances were greatly in his favor.

"No, Manoel," was the cool reply, "it is for me alone to avenge my father, and as everyhthing here ought to

"As for you, Fragoso, you will not refuse if I ask you to act as second for that man?"

"So be it," answered Fragoso, "though it is not an office of honor. Without the least ceremony," he added, "I

The place where the duel was about to take place was a level bank about fifty paces long, on the top of a cliff

rising perpendicularly some fifty feet above the Amazon. The river slowly flowed at the foot, and bathed the

There was, therefore, none too much room, and the combatant who was the first to give way would quickly

Benito had complete command over himself. The defender of a sacred cause, his coolness was unruffled,

much more so than that of Torres, whose conscience insensible and hardened as it was, was bound at the

The two met, and the first blow came from Benito. Torres parried it. They then jumped back, but almost at

the same instant they rushed together, and with their left hands seized each other by the shouldernever to

Torres, who was the strongest, struck a side blow with his manchetta which Benito could not quite parry. His

left side was touched, and his poncho was reddened with his blood. But he quickly replied, and slightly

Several blows were then interchanged, but nothing decisive was done. The ever silent gaze of Benito pierced

the eyes of Torres like a sword blade thrust to his very heart. Visibly the scoundrel began to quail. He

recoiled little by little, pressed back by his implacable foe, who was more determined on taking the life of his

father's denouncer than in defending his own. To strike was all that Benito longed for; to parry was all that

Soon Torres saw himself thrust to the very edge of the bank, at a spot where, slightly scooped away, it

overhung the river. He perceived the danger; he tried to retake the offensive and regain the lost ground. His

agitation increased, his looks grew livid. At length he was obliged to stoop beneath the arm which threatened

The blow was struck full on its chest, but the point of the manchetta was stopped by a hard substance hidden

Benito renewed his attack, and Torres, whose return thrust did not touch his adversary, felt himself lost. He

was again obliged to retreat. Then he would have shoutedshouted that the life of Joam Dacosta depended

A second thrust of the manchetta pierced his heart. He fell backward, and the ground suddenly failing him, he

was precipitated down the cliff. As a last effort his hands convulsively clutched at a clump of reeds, but they

Benito was supported on Manoel's shoulder; Fragoso grasped his hands. He would not even give his

A quarter of an hour afterward the three reached the bank to which the raft was moored. Benito and Manoel

rushed into the room where were Yaquita and Minha, and told them all that had passed.

Benito, followed by Manoel, hurried along his mother, and half an hour later they arrived before the prison.

Owing to the order previously given by Judge Jarriquez they were immediately admitted, and conducted to

"Yaquita! my wife! my children!" replied the prisoner, who opened his arms and pressed them to his heart.

A FEW HOURS later the whole family had returned to the raft, and were assembled in the large room. All

were there, except the prisoner, on whom the last blow had just fallen. Benito was quite overwhelmed, and

accused himself of having destroyed his father, and had it not been for the entreaties of Yaquita, of his sister,

of Padre Passanha, and of Manoel, the distracted youth would in the first moments of despair have probably

made away with himself. But he was never allowed to get out of sight; he was never left alone. And besides,

how could he have acted otherwise? Ah! why had not Joam Dacosta told him all before he left the jangada?

Why had he refrained from speaking, except before a judge, of this material proof of his innocence? Why, in

his interview with Manoel after the expulsion of Torres, had he been silent about the document which the

adventurer pretended to hold in his hands? But, after all, what faith ought he to place in what Torres had said?

Whatever might be the reason, the family now knew everything, and that from the lips of Joam Dacosta

himself. They knew that Torres had declared that the proof of the innocence of the convict of Tijuco actually

existed; that the document had been written by the very hand of the author of the attack; that the criminal,

seized by remorse at the moment of his death, had intrusted it to his companion, Torres; and that he, instead

of fulfilling the wishes of the dying man, had made the handing over of the document an excuse for extortion.

But they knew also that Torrres had just been killed, and that his body was engulfed in the waters of the

Unless he was saved by a miracle, Joam Dacosta might now be considered as irrevocably lost. The death of

Judge Ribeiro on the one hand, the death of Torres on the other, were blows from which he could not

recover! It should here be said that public opinion at Manaos, unreasoning as it always is, was all against he

prisoner. The unexpected arrest of Joam Dacosta had revived the memory of the terrible crime of Tijuco,

which had lain forgotten for twentythree years. The trial of othe young clerk at the mines of the diamond

arrayal, his capital sentence, his escape a few hours before his intended executionall were remembered,

analyzed, and commented on. An article which had just appeared in the O Diario d'o Grand Para, the most

widely circulated journal in these parts, after giving a history of the circumstances of the crime, showed itself

decidedly hostile to the prisoner. Why should these people believe in Joam Dacosta's innocence, when they

And so the people of Manaos became excited. A mob of Indians and negroes hurried, in their blind folly, to

surround the prison and roar forth tumultuous shouts of death. In this part of the two Americas, where

executions under Lynch law are of frequent occurrence, the mob soon surrenders itself to its cruel instincts,

What a night it was for the passengers from the fazenda! Masters and servants had been affected by the blow!

Were not the servants of the fazenda members of one family? Every one of them would watch over the safety

of Yaquita and her people! On the bank of the Rio Negro there was a constant coming and going of the

natives, evidently excited by the arrest of Joam Dacosta, and who could say to what excesses these

On the morrow, the 26th of August, as soon as the sun rose, Manoel and Fragoso, who had never left Benito

for an instant during this terrible night, attempted to distract his attention from his despair. After taking him

aside they made him understand that there was no time to be lostthat they must make up their minds to act.

"Benito," said Manoel, "pull yourself together! Be a man again! Be a son again!"

"No!" replied Manoel. "With heaven's help it is possible that all may not be lost!"

The young man, passing his hand over his eyes, made a violent effort to collect himself.

"Benito," continued Manoel, "Torres never gave a hint to put us on the track of his past life. We therefore

cannot tell who was the author of the crime of Tijuco, or under what conditions it was committed. To try in

"Besides," said Manoel, "suppose we do find out who this companion of Torres was, he is dead, and he could

not testify in any way to the innocence of Joam Dacosta. But it is none the less certain that the proof of this

innocence exists, and there is not room to doubt the existence of a document which Torres was anxious to

make the subject of a bargain. He told us so himself. The document is a complete avowal written in the

handwriting of the culprit, which relates the attack in its smallest details, and which clears our father! Yes! a

"But Torres does not exist!" groaned Benito, "and the document has perished with him!"

"Wait, and don't despair yet!" answered Manoel. "You remember under what circumstances we made the

acquaintance of Torres? It was in the depths of the forest of Iquitos. He was in pursuit of a monkey which had

stolen a metal case, which it so strangely kept, and the chase had lasted a couple of hours when the monkey

fell to our guns. Now, do you think that it was for the few pieces of gold contained in the case that Torres was

in such a fury to recover it? and do you not remember the extraordinary satisfaction which he displayed when

"Yes!" yes!" answered Benito. "This case which I heldwhich I gave back to him! Perhaps it

"And I beg to add," said Fragoso, "for now the fact recurs to my memory, that during the time you were at

Ega I remained on board, at Lina's advice, to keep an eye on Torres, and I saw himyes, I saw

himreading, and again reading, an old faded paper, and muttering words which I could not understand."

"That was the document!" exclaimed Benito, who snatched at the hopethe only one that was left. "But this

"No," answered Manoel"no; it was too precious for Torres to dream of parting with it. He was bound to

"Wait! wait, Manoel!" exclaimed Benito; "I rememberyes, I remember. During the struggle, at the first

blow I struck Torres in his chest, my manchetta was stopped by some hard substance under his poncho, like a

"Yes," replied Manoel; "doubt is impossible! That was the case; it was in his breastpocket."

"But the paper! The water will have stained it, perhaps destroyed it, or rendered it undecipherable!"

"Manoel," replied Benito, who seized on the last hope, "you are right! The corpse of Torres must be

recovered! We will ransack the whole of this part of the river, if necessary, but we will recover it!"

"Good!" replied he; "I know all the eddies and currents where the Rio Negro and the Amazon join, and we

shall succeed in recovering the body. Let us take two pirogues, two ubas, a dozen of our Indians, and make a

Benito went to him, and in a few words told him what they were going to do to get possession of the

document. "Say nothing to my mother or my sister," he added; "if this last hope fails it will kill them!"

Five minutes afterward the four boats started from the raft. After descending the Rio Negro they arrived near

the bank of the Amazon, at the very place where Torres, mortally wounded, had disappeared beneath the

The first of these wasand this was a question of life or deaththat this proof of Joam Dacosta's innocence

must be produced before the arrival of the order from Rio Janeiro. Once the identity of the prisoner was

established, it was impossible that such an order could be other than the order for his execution.

The second was that the body of Torres should be got out of the water as quickly as possible so as to regain

At this juncture Araujo displayed not only zeal and intelligence, but also a perfect knowledge of the state of

"If Torres," he said to the young men, "had been from the first carried away by the current, we should have to

drag the river throughout a large area, for we shall have a good many days to wait for his body to reappear on

"If, on the contrary," continued the pilot, "the corpse has got stuck among the reeds and vegetation at the foot

There was but one way of working. The boats approached the bank, and the Indians, furnished with long

poles, began to sound every part of the river at the base of the bluff which had served for the scene of combat.

The place had been easily recognized. A track of blood stained the declivity in its chalky part, and ran

perpendicularly down it into the water; and there many a clot scattered on the reeds indicated the very spot

About fifty feet down stream a point jutted out from the riverside and kept back the waters in a kind of eddy,

as in a large basin. There was no current whatever near the shore, and the reeds shot up out of the river

unbent. Every hope then existed that Torres' body had not been carried away by the main stream. Where the

bed of the river showed sufficient slope, it was perhaps possible for the corpse to have rolled several feet

The ubas and the pirogues, dividing the work among them, limited the field of their researches to the extreme

edge of the eddy, and from the circumference to the center the crews' long poles left not a single point

unexplored. But no amount of sounding discovered the body of the adventurer, neither among the clumps of

Two hours after the work had begun they had been led to think that the body, having probably struck against

the declivity, had fallen off obliquely and rolled beyond the limits of this eddy, where the action of the

"But that is no reason why we should despair," said Manoel, "still less why we should give up our search."

"Will it be necessary," exclaimed Benito, "to search the river throughout its breadth and its length?"

"Throughout its breadth, perhaps," answered Araujo, "throughout its length, nofortunately."

"Because the Amazon, about a mile away from its junction with the Rio Negro, makes a sudden bend, and at

the same time its bed rises, so that there is a kind of natural barrier, well known to sailors as the Bar of Frias,

which things floating near the surface are alone able to clear. In short, the currents are ponded back, and they

This was fortunate, it must be admitted. But was Araujo mistaken? The old pilot of the Amazon could be

relied on. For the thirty years that he had followed his profession the crossing of the Bar of Frias, where the

current was increased in force by its decrease in depth, had often given him trouble. The narrowness of the

channel and the elevation of the bed made the passage exceedingly difficult, and many a raft had there come

And so Araujo was right in declaring that if the corpse of Torres was still retained by its weight on the sandy

bed of the river, it could not have been dragged over the bar. It is true that later on, when, on account of the

expansion of the gases, it would again rise to the surface, the current would bear it away, and it would then be

irrevocably lost down the stream, a long way beyond the obstruction. But this purely physical effect would

They could not have applied to a man who was more skillful or more conversant with the locality than

Araujo, and when he affirmed that the body could not have been borne out of the narrow channel for more

than a mile or so, they were sure to recover it if they thoroughly sounded that portion of the river.

Not an island, not an islet, checked the course of the Amazon in these parts. Hence, when the foot of the two

banks had been visited up to the bar, it was in the bed itself, about five hundred feet in width, that more

The way the work was conducted was this. The boats taking the right and left of the Amazon lay alongside

the banks. The reeds and vegetation were tried with the poles. Of the smallest ledges in the banks in which a

But all this labor produced no result, and half the day had elapsed without the body being brought to the

An hour's rest was given to the Indians. During this time they partook of some refreshment, and then they

Four of the boats, in charge of the pilot, Benito, Fragoso, and Manoel, divided the river between the Rio

Negro and the Bar of Frias into four portions. They set to work to explore its very bed. In certain places the

poles proved insufficient to thoroughly search among the deeps, and hence a few dredgesor rather harrows,

made of stones and old iron, bound round with a solid barwere taken on board, and when the boats had

pushed off these rakes were thrown in and the river bottom stirred up in every direction.

It was in this difficult task that Benito and his companions were employed till the evening. The ubas and

pirogues, worked by the oars, traversed the whole surface of the river up to the bar of Frias.

There had been moments of excitement during this spell of work, when the harrows, catching in something at

the bottom, offered some slight resistance. They were then hauled up, but in place of the body so eagerly

searched for, there would appear only heavy stones or tufts of herbage which they had dragged from their

sandy bed. No one, however, had an idea of giving up the enterprise. They none of them thought of

themselves in this work of salvation. Benito, Manoel, Araujo had not even to stir up the Indians or to

encourage them. The gallant fellows knew that they were working for the fazender of Iquitosfor the man

whom they lvoed, for the chief of the excellent family who treated their servants so well.

Yes; and so they would have passed the night in dragging the river. Of every minute lost all knew the value.

A little before the sun disappeared, Araujo, finding it useless to continue his operations in the gloom, gave

the signal for the boats to join company and return together to the confluence of the Rio Negro and regain the

Manoel and Fragoso, as they came back, dared not mention their ill success before Benito. They feared that

But neither courage nor coolness deserted the young fellow; he was determined to follow to the end this

supreme effort to save the honor and the life of his father, and he it was who addressed his companions, and

"Yes," answered Manoel; "you are right, Benito. We can do better. We cannot pretend to have entirely

"No; we cannot have done that," replied Araujo; "and I maintain what I saidthat the body of Torres is

there, and that it is there because it has not been carried away, because it could not be drawn over the Bar of

Frias, and because it will take many days before it rises to the surface and floats down the stream. Yes, it is

This affirmation from the pilot was worth a good deal, and was of a hopeinspiring nature.

However, Benito, who did not care so much for words as he did for things, thought proper to reply, "Yes,

The pilot was silent for a few moments; they felt that he was reflecting before he spoke. "Mr. Benito," he said

at length, "I am not in the habit of speaking lightly. I had the same idea as you; but listen. During the ten

"If you have not seen one," continued the pilot, "it was because there were none to see, for these animals have

nothing to keep them in the white waters when, a quarter of a mile off, there are large stretches of the black

waters, which they so greatly prefer. When the raft was attacked by some of these creatures it was in a part

where there was no place for them to flee to. Here it is quite different. Go to the Rio Negro, and there you

will see caymans by the score. Had Torres' body fallen into that tributary there might be no chance of

recovering it. But it was in the Amazon that it was lost, and in the Amazon it will be found."

Benito, relieved from his fears, took the pilot's hand and chook it, and contented himself with the reply,

Ten minutes later they were all on board the jangada. During the day Yaquit had passed some hours with her

husband. But before she started, and when she saw neither the pilot, nor Manoel, nor Benito, nor the boats,

she had guessed the search on which they had gone, but she said nothing to Joam Dacosta, as she hoped that

But when Benito set foot on the raft she perceived that their search had been fruitless. However, she

The members of the family retired to their rooms, and nothing more was said as to what had passed.

ON THE MORROW, the 27th of August, Benito took Manoel apart, before the sun had risen, and said to

him: "Our yesterday's search was vain. If we begin again under the same conditions we may be just as

"Yes," continued Benito; "but suppose we do not find the body, can you tell me how long it will be before it

"If Torres," answered Manoel, "had fallen into the water living, and not mortally wounded, it would take five

or six days; but as he only disappeared after being so wounded, perhaps two or three days would be enough to

This answer of Manoel, which was quite correct, requires some explanation. Every human body which falls

into the water will float if equilibrium is established between its density and that of its liquid bed. This is well

known to be the fact, even when a person does not know how to swim. Under such circumstances, if you are

entirely submerged, and only keep your mouth and nose away from the water, you are sure to float. But this is

not generally done. The first movement of a drowning man is to try and hold as much as he can of himself

above the water; he holds up his head and lifts up his arms, and these parts of his body, being no longer

supported by the liquid, do not lose that amount of weight which they would do if completely immersed.

Hence an excess of weight, and eventually entire submersion, for the water makes its way to the lungs

through the mouth, takes the place of the air which fills them, and the body sinks to the bottom.

On the other hand, when the man who falls into the water is already dead the conditions are different, and

more favorable for his floating, for then the movements of which we have spoken are checked, and the liquid

does not make its way to the lungs so copiously, as there is no attempt to respire, and he is consequently more

likely to promptly reappear. Manoel then was right in drawing the distinction between the man who falls into

the water living and the man who falls into it dead. In the one case the return to the surface takes much longer

The reappearance of the body after an immersion more or less prolonged is always determined by the

decomposition, which causes the gases to form. These bring about the expansion of the cellular tissues, the

volume augments and the weight decreases, and then, weighing less than the water it displaces, the body

"And thus," continued Manoel, "supposing the conditions continue favorable, and Torres did not live after he

fell into the water, if the decomposition is not modified by circumstances which we cannot foresee, he will

"We have not got three days," answered Benito. "We cannot wait, you know; we must try again, and in some

"Plunge down myself beneath the waters," replied Benito, "and search with my eyeswith my hands."

"Plunge in a hundred timesa thousand times!" exclaimed Manoel. "So be it. I think, like you, that we ought

to go straight at what we want, and not struggle on with poles and drags like a blind man who only works by

touch. I also think that we cannot wait three days. But to jump in, come up again, and go down again will

give only a short period for the exploration. No; it will never do, and we shall only risk a second failure."

"Have you no other plan to propose, Manoel?" asked Benito, looking earnestly at his friend.

"Well, listen. There is what would seem to be a Providential circumstance that may be of use to us."

"Yesterday, as we hurried through Manaos, I noticed that they were repairing one of the quays on the bank of

the Rio Negro. The submarine works were being carried on with the aid of a divingdress. Let us borrow, or

hire, or buy, at any price, this apparatus, and then we may resume our researches under more favorable

"Tell Araujo, Fragoso, and our men, and let us be off," was the instant reply of Benito.

The pilot and the barber were informed of the decision with regard to Manoel's project. Both were ordered to

go with the four boats and the Indians to the basin of Frias, and there to wait for the two young men.

Manoel and Benito started off without losing a moment, and reached the quay at Manaos. There they offered

the contractor such a price that he put the apparatus at their service for the whole day.

"Give us your foreman and one of his mates to work the airpump," replied Manoel.

An hour afterward the raft and all the instruments necessary for the enterprise had drifted down to the bank

The divingdress is well known. By its means men can descend beneath the waters and remain there a certain

time without the action of the lungs being in any way injured. The diver is clothed in a waterproof suit of

India rubber, and his feet are attached to leaden shoes, which allow him to retain his upright position beneath

the surface. At the collar of the dress, and about the height of the neck, there is fitted a collar of copper, on

which is screwed a metal globe with a glass front. In this globe the diver places his head, which he can move

about at his ease. To the globe are attached two pipes; one used for carrying off the air ejected from the lungs,

and which is unfit for respiration, and the other in communication with a pump worked on the raft, and

bringing in the fresh air. When the diver is at work the raft remains immovable above him; when the diver

moves about on the bottom of the river the raft follows his movements, or he follows those of the raft,

These divingdresses are now much improved, and are less dangerous than formerly. The man beneath the

liquid mass can easily bear the additional pressure, and if anything was to be feared below the waters it was

rather some cayman who might there be met with. But, as had been observed by Araujo, not one of these

amphibians had been seen, and they are well known to prefer the black waters of the tributaries of the

Amazon. Besides, in case of danger, the diver has always his checkstring fastened to the raft, and at the least

Benito, invariably very cool once his resolution was taken, commenced to put his idea into execution, and got

into the diving dress. His head disappeared in the metal globe, his hand grasped a sort of iron spear with

which to stir up the vegetation and detritus accumulated in the river bed, and on his giving the signal he was

The men on the raft immediately commenced to work the airpump, while four Indians from the jangada,

under the orders of Araujo, gently propelled it with their long poles in the desired direction.

The two pirogues, commanded one by Fragoso, the other by Manoel, escorted the raft, and held themselves

ready to start in any direction, should Benito find the corpse of Torres and again bring it to the surface of the

BENITO THEN HAD disappeared beneath the vast sheet which still covered the corpse of the adventurer.

Ah! If he had had the power to divert the waters of the river, to turn them into vapor, or to drain them offif

he could have made the Frias basin dry down stream, from the bar up to the influx of the Rio Negro, the case

hidden in Torres' clothes would already have been in his hand! His father's innocence would have been

recognized! Joam Dacosta, restored to liberty, would have again started on the descent of the river, and what

Benito had reached the bottom. His heavy shoes made the gravel on the bed crunch beneath him. He was in

some ten or fifteen feet of water, at the base of the cliff, which was here very steep, and at the very spot

Near him was a tangled mass of reeds and twigs and aquatic plants, all laced together, which assuredly during

the researches of the previous day no pole could have penetrated. It was consequently possible that the body

was entangled among the submarine shrubs, and still in the place where it had originally fallen.

Hereabouts, thanks to the eddy produced by the prolongation of one of the spurs running out into the stream,

the current was absolutely nil. Benito guided his movements by those of the raft, which the long poles of the

The light penetrated deep through the clear waters, and the magnificent sun, shining in a cloudless sky, shot

its rays down into them unchecked. Under ordinary conditions, at a depth of some twenty feet in water, the

view becomes exceedingly blurred, but here the waters seemed to be impregnated with a luminous fluid, and

Benito was able to descend still lower without the darkness concealing the river bed.

The young man slowly made his way along the bank. With his ironshod spear he probed the plants and

rubbish accumulated along its foot. Flocks of fish, if we can use such an expression, escaped on all sides from

the dense thickets like flocks of birds. It seemed as though the thousand pieces of a broken mirror glimmered

through the waters. At the same time scores of crustaceans scampered over the sand, like huge ants hurrying

Notwithstanding that Benito did not leave a single point of the river unexplored, he never caught sight of the

object of his search. He noticed, however, that the slope of the river bed was very abrupt, and he concluded

that Torres had rolled beyond the eddy toward the center of the stream. If so, he would probably still recover

the body, for the current could hardly touch it at the depth, which was already great, and seemed sensibly to

increase. Benito then resolved to pursue his investigations on the side where he had begun to probe the

vegetation. This was why he continued to advance in that direction, and the raft had to follow him during a

The quarter of an hour had elapsed, and Benito had found nothing. He felt the need of ascending to the

surface, so as to once more experience those physiological conditions in which he could recoup his strength.

In certain spots, where the depth of the river necessitated it, he had had to descend about thirty feet. He had

thus to support a pressure almost equal to an atmosphere, with the result of the physical fatigue and mental

agitation which attack those who are not used to this kind of work. Benito then pulled the communication

cord, and the men on the raft commenced to haul him in, but they worked slowly, taking a minute to draw

him up two or three feet so as not to produce in his internal organs the dreadful effects of decompression.

As soon as the young man had set foot on the raft the metallic sphere of the divingdress was raised, and he

The pirogues immediately rowed alongside. Manoel, Fragoso, and Araujo came close to him, waiting for him

"No, Manoel," answered Benito; "I have begun; I know where to go. Let me do it!"

Benito then explained to the pilot that his intention was to visit the lower part of the bank up to the Bar of

Frias, for there the slope had perhaps stopped the corpse, if, floating between the two streams, it had in the

least degree been affected by the current. But first he wanted to skirt the bank and carefully explore a sort of

hole formed in the slope of the bed, to the bottom of which the poles had evidently not been able to penetrate.

Manoel gave Benito a little advice. "As you want to pursue your search on that side," he said, "the raft will

have to go over there obliquely; but mind what you are doing, Benito. That is much deeper than where you

have been yet; it may be fifty or sixty feet, and you will have to support a pressure of quite two atmospheres.

Only venture with extreme caution, or you may lose your presence of mind, or no longer know where you are

or what to do. If your head feels as if in a vice, and your ears tingle, do not hesitate to give us the signal, and

we will at once haul you up. You can then begin again if you like, as you will have got accustomed to move

Benito promised to attend to these hints, of which he recognized the importance. He was particularly struck

with the fact that his presence of mind might abandon him at the very moment he wanted it most.

Benito shook hands with Manoel; the sphere of the divingdress was again screwed to his neck, the pump

The raft was then taken about forty feet along the left bank, but as it moved toward the center of the river the

current increased in strength, the ubas were moored, and the rowers kept it from drifting, so as only to allow

Benito descended very gently, and again found himself on the firm sand. When his heels touched the ground

it could be seen, by the length of the haulage cord, that he was at a depth of some sixtyfive or seventy feet.

He was therefore in a considerable hole, excavated far below the ordinary level.

The liquid medium was more obscure, but the limpidity of these transparent waters still allowed the light to

penetrate sufficiently for Benito to distinguish the objects scattered on the bed of the river, and to approach

them with some safety. Besides, the sand, sprinkled with mica flakes, seemed to form a sort of reflector, and

Benito moved on, examining and sounding the smallest cavities with his spear. He continued to advance very

slowly; the communication cord was paid out, and as the pipes which served for the inlet and outlet of the air

Benito turned off so as to reach the middle of the bed of the Amazon, where there was the greatest

depression. Sometimes profound obscurity thickened around him, and then he could see nothing, so feeble

was the light; but this was a purely passing phenomenon, and due to the raft, which, floating above his head,

intercepted the solar rays and made the night replace the day. An instant afterward the huge shadow would be

All the time Benito was going deeper. He felt the increase of the pressure with which his body was wrapped

by the liquid mass. His respiration became less easy; the retractibility of his organs no longer worked with as

much ease as in the midst of an atmosphere more conveniently adapted for them. And so he found himself

under the action of physiological effects to which he was unaccustomed. The rumbling grew louder in his

ears, but as his thought was always lucid, as he felt that the action of his brain was quite cleareven a little

more so than usualhe delayed giving the signal for return, and continued to go down deeper still.

Suddenly, in the subdued light which surrounded him, his attention was attracted by a confused mass. It

seemed to take the form of a corpse, entangled beneath a clump of aquatic plants. Intense excitement seized

him. He stepped toward the mass; with his spear he felt it. It was the carcass of a huge cayman, already

reduced to a skeleton, and which the current of the Rio Negro had swept into the bed of the Amazon. Benito

recoiled, and, in spite of the assertions of the pilot, the thought recurred to him that some living cayman

But he repelled the idea, and continued his progress, so as to reach the bottom of the depression.

And now he had arrived at a depth of from eighty to a hundred feet, and consequently was experiencing a

pressure of three atmospheres. If, then, this cavity was also drawn blank, he would have to suspend his

Experience has shown that the extreme limit for such submarine explorations lies between a hundred and

twenty and a hundred and thirty feet, and that below this there is great danger, the human organism not only

being hindered from performing his functions under such a pressure, but the apparatus failing to keep up a

But Benito was resolved to go as far as his mental powers and physical energies would let him. By some

strange presentiment he was drawn toward this abyss; it seemed to him as though the corpse was very likely

to have rolled to the bottom of the hole, and that Torres, if he had any heavy things about him, such as a belt

containing either money or arms, would have sunk to the very lowest point. Of a sudden, in a deep hollow, he

saw a body through the gloom! Yes! A corpse, still clothed, stretched out like a man asleep, with his arms

Was that Torres? In the obscurity, then very dense, he found it difficult to see; but it was a human body that

A sharp pang shot through Benito. His heart, for an instant, ceased to beat. He thought he was going to lose

consciousness. By a supreme effort he recovered himself. He stepped toward the corpse.

Suddenly a shock as violent as unexpected made his whole frame vibrate! A logn whip seemed to twine

round his body, and in spite of the thick divingdress he felt himself lashed again and again.

In fact, it was a "puraque," the name given by the Brazilians to the gymnotus, or electric snake, which had

It is well known that the gymnotus is a kind of eel, with a blackish, slimy skin, furnished along the back and

tail with an apparatus composed of plates joined by vertical lamell�, and acted on by nerves of considerable

power. This apparatus is endowed with singular electrical properties, and is apt to produce very formidable

results. Some of these gymnotuses are about the length of a common snake, others are about ten feet long,

while others, which, however, are rare, even reach fifteen or twenty feet, and are from eight to ten inches in

Gymnotuses are plentiful enough both in the Amazon and its tributaries; and it was one of these living coils,

about ten feet long, which, after uncurving itself like a bow, again attacked the diver.

Benito knew what he had to fear from this formidable animal. His clothes were powerless to protect him. The

discharges of the gymnotus, at first somewhat weak, become more and more violent, and there would come a

Benito, unable to resist the blows, halfdropped upon the sand. His limbs were becoming paralyzed little by

little under the electric influences of the gymnotus, which lightly touched his body as it wrapped him in its

folds. His arms even he could not lift, and soon his spear escaped him, and his hand had not strength enough

Benito felt that he was lost. Neither Manoel nor his companions could suspect the horrible combat which was

going on beneath them between the formidable puraque and the unhappy diver, who only fought to suffer,

And that at the moment when a bodythe body of Torres without a doubt!had just met his view.

By a supreme instinct of selfpreservation Benito uttered a cry. His voice was lost in the metallic sphere from

And now the puraque redoubled its attacks; it gave forth shock after shock, which made Benito writhe on the

sand like the sections of a divided worm, and his muscles were wrenched again and again beneath the living

Benito thought that all was over; his eyes grew dim, his limbs began to stiffen.

But before he quite lost his power of sight and reason he became the witness of a phenomenon, unexpected,

A deadened roar resounded through the liquid depths. It was like a thunderclap, the reverberations of which

rolled along the river bed, then violently agitated by the electrical discharges of the gymnotus. Benito felt

himself bathed as it were in the dreadful booming which found an echo in the very deepest of the river

And then a last cry escaped him, for fearful was the vision which appeared before his eyes!

The corpse of the drowned man which had been stretched on the sand arose! The undulations of the water

lifted up the arms, and they swayed about as if with some peculiar animation. Convulsive throbs made the

It was indeed the body of Torres. One of the suns rays shot down to it through the liquid mass, and Benito

recognized the bloated, ashy features of the scoundrel who fell by his own hand, and hose last breath had left

And while Benito could not make a single movement with his paralyzed limbs, while his heavy shoes kept

him down as if he had been nailed to the sand, the corpse straightened itself up, the head swayed to and fro,

and disentangling itself from the hole in which it had been kept by a mass of aquatic weeds, it slowly

WHAT WAS it that had happened? A purely physical phenomenon, of which the following is the

The gunboat Santa Ana, bound for Manaos, had come up the river and passed the bar at Frias. Just before she

reached the embouchure of the Rio Negro she hoisted her colors and saluted the Brazilian flag. At the report

vibrations were produced along the surface of the stream, and these vigrations making their way down to the

bottom of the river, had been sufficient to raise the corpse of Torres, already lightened by the commencement

of its decomposition and the distension of its cellular system. The body of the drowned man had in the

This wellknown phenomenon explains the reappearance of the corpse, but it must be admitted that the

By a shout from Manoel, repeated by all his companions, one of the pirogues was immediately steered for the

Great was Manoel's emotion when Benito, drawn on to the platform, was laid there in a state of complete

Benito had entirely lost consciousness beneath the violent shocks of the gymnotus.

Manoel, distracted, called to him, breathed into him, and endeavored to recover the heart's pulsation.

Yes! Benito's heart did still beat, and in a few minutes Manoel's efforts restored him to life.

"There it is!" answered Fragoso, pointing to a pirogue then coming up to the raft with the corpse.

"But what has been the matter, Benito?" asked Manoel. "Has it been the want of air?"

"A cannon shot!" replied Manoel. "It was the cannon shot which brought the corpse to the surface."

At this moment the pirogue came up to the raft with the body of Torres, which had been taken on board by

the Indians. His sojourn in the water had not disfigured him very much. He was easily recognizable, and there

Fragoso, kneeling down in the pirogue, had already begun to undo the clothes of the drowned man, which

At the moment Torres' right arm, which was now left bare, attracted his attention. On it there appeared the

"A quarrel! Yes! a quarrel I witnessed in the province of Madeira three years ago. How could I have forgotten

it! This Torres was then a captain of the woods. Ah! I know now where I had seen him, the scoundrel!"

"That does not matter to us now!" cried Benito. "The case! the case! Has he still got that?" and Benito was

"One moment, Benito," he said; and then, turning to the men on the raft who did not belong to the jangada,

"Just take note, my friends," he said, "of what we are doing here, so that you can relate before the magistrate

Fragoso undid the belt which encircled the body of Torres underneath the torn poncho, and feeling his

A cry of joy escaped from Benito. He stretched forward to seize the case, to make sure than it contained

"No!" again interrupted Manoel, whose coolness did not forsake him. "It is necessary that not the slightest

possible doubt should exist in the mind of the magistrate! It is better that disinterested witnesses should

"My friend," said Manoel to the foreman of the raft, "just feel in the pocket of the waistcoat."

The foreman obeyed. He drew forth a metal case, with the cover screwed on, and which seemed to have

"The paper! Is the paper still inside?" exclaimed Benito, who could not contain himself.

"It is for the magistrate to open this case!" answered Manoel. "To him alone belongs the duty of verifying

"Yes, yes. Again you are right, Manoel," said Benito. "To Manaos, my friendsto Manaos!"

Benito, Manoel, Fragoso, and the foreman who held the case, immediately jumped into one of the pirogues,

In fact, the Indians had already thrown back the body into the water, and it was drifting away down the river.

"Torres was only a scoundrel," said Benito. "If I had to fight him, it was God that struck him, and his body

And so orders were given to the second pirogue to recover the corpse, and take it to the bank to await its

But at the same moment a flock of birds of prey, which skimmed along the surface of the stream, pounced on

the floating body. They were urubus, a kind of small vulture, with naked necks and long claws, and black as

crows. In South America they are known as gallinazos, and their voracity is unparalleled. The body, torn

open by their beaks, gave forth the gases which inflated it, its density increased, it sank down little by little,

and for the last time what remained of Torres disappeared beneath the waters of the Amazon.

Ten minutes afterward the pirogue arrived at Manaos. Benito and his companions jumped ashore, and hurried

through the streets of the town. In a few minutes they had reached the dwelling of Judge Jarriuez, and

informed him, through one of his servants, that they wished to see him immediately.

There Manoel recounted all that had passed, from the moment when Torres had been killed until the moment

when the case had been found on his corpse, and taken from his breastpocket by the foreman.

Although this recital was of a nature to corroborate all that Joam Dacosta had said on the subject of Torres,

and of the bargain which he had endeavored to make, Judge Jarriquez could not restrain a smile of

"There is the case, sir," said Manoel. "For not a single instant has it been in our hands, and the man who gives

The magistrate took the case and examined it with care, turning it over and over as though it were made of

some precious material. Then he shook it, and a few coins inside sounded with a metallic ring. Did not, then,

the case contain the document which had been so much sought afterthe document written in the very hand

of the true author of the crime of Tijuco, and which Torres had wished to sell at such an ignoble price to Joam

We can easily imagine the violent agitation which had seized upon the spectators f this scene. Benito could

scarcely utter a word, he felt his heart ready to burst. "Open it, sir! open the case!" he at last exclaimed, in a

Judge Jarriquez began to unscrew the lid; then, when the cover was removed, he turned up the case, and from

"But the paper! the paper!" again gasped Benito, who clutched hold of the table to save himself from falling.

The magistrate put his fingers into the case and drew out, not without difficulty, a faded paper, folded with

"The document! that is the document!" shouted Fragoso; "that is the very paper I saw in the hands of Torres!"

Judge Jarriquez unfolded the paper and cast his eyes over it, and then he turned it over so as to examine it on

the back and the front, which were both covered with writing. "A document it really is!" said he; "there is no

"Yes," replied Benito; "and that is the document which proves my father's innocence!"

"I do not know that," replied Judge Jarriquez; "and I am much afraid it will be very difficult to know it."

THIS WAS a contingency which neither Joam Dacosta nor his people could have anticipated. In fact, as those

who have not forgotten the first scene in this story are aware, the document was written in a disguised form in

To discover this would require all the ingenuity of which the human brain was capable.

Before dismissing Benito and his companions, Judge Jarriquez had an exact copy made of the document, and,

keeping the original, handed it over to them after due comparison, so that they could communicate with the

Then, making an appointment for the morrow, they retired, and not wishing to lose an instant in seeing Joam

Dacosta, they hastened on to the prison, and there, in a short interview, informed him of all that had passed.

Joam Dacosta took the document and carefully examined it. Shaking his head, he handed it back to his son.

"Perhaps," he said, "there is therein written the proof I shall never be able to produce. But if that proof

escapes me, if the whole tenor of my life does not plead for me, I have nothing more to expect from the

And all felt it to be so. If the document remained indecipherable, the position of the convict was a desperate

"We shall find it, father!" exclaimed Benito. "There never was a document of this sort yet which could stand

examination. Have confidenceyes, confidence! Heaven has, so to speak, miraculously given us the paper

which vindicates you, and, after guiding our hands to recover it, it will not refuse to direct our brains to

Joam Dacosta shook hands with Benito and Manoel, and then the three young men, much agitated, retired to

Yaquita was soon informed of what had happened since the eveningthe reappearance of the body of

Torres, the discovery of the document, and the strange form under which the real culprit, the companion of

the adventurer, had thought proper to write his confessiondoubtless, so that it should not compromise him

Naturally, Lina was informed of this unexpected complication, and of the discovery made by Fragoso that

Torres was an old captain of the woods belonging to the gang who were employed about the mouths of the

"It was during one of my runs across the province of Amazones," replied Fragoso, "when I was going from

"What happened was this: One day I arrived at the mission of Aranas at the moment that Torres, whom I had

never before seen, had picked a quarrel with one of his comradesand a bad lot they are!and this quarrel

ended with a stab from a knife, which entered the arm of the captain of the woods. There was no doctor there,

"What does it matter after all," replied the young girl, "that we know what Torres had been? He was not the

"No, it does not," answered Fragoso; "for we shall end by reading the document, and then the innocence of

This was likewise the hope of Yaquita, of Benito, of Manoel, and of Minha, and, shut up in the house, they

But if it was their hopeand there is no need to insist on that pointit was none the less that of Judge

After having drawn up his report at the end of his examination establishing the identity of Joam Dacosta, the

magistrate had sent it off to headquarters, and therewith he thought he had finished with the affair so far as he

On the discovery of the document, Jarriquez suddenly found himself face to face with the study of which he

was a master. He, the seeker after numerical combinations, the solver of amusing problems, the answerer of

charades, rebuses, logogryphs, and such things, was at last in his true element.

At the thought that the document might perhaps contain the justification of Joam Dacosta, he felt all the

instinct of the analyst aroused. Here, before his very eyes, was a cryptogram! And so from that moment he

thought of nothing but how to discover its meaning, and it is scarcely necessary to say that he made up his

After the departure of the young people, Judge Jarriquez installed himself in his study. His door, barred

against every one, assured him of several hours of perfect solitude. His spectacles were on his nose, his

snuffbox on the table. He took a good pinch so as to develop the finesse and sagacity of his mind. He picked

up the document and became absorbed in meditation, which soon became materialized in the shape of a

monologue. The worthy justice was one of those unreserved men who think more easily aloud than to

himself. "Let us proceed with method," he said. "No method, no logic; no logic, no success."

Then, taking the document, he ran through it from beginning to end, without understanding it in the least.

The document contained a hundred lines, which were divided into half a dozen paragraphs.

"Hum!" said the judge, after a little reflection; "to try every paragraph, one after the other, would be to lose

precious time, and be of no use. I had better select one of these paragraphs, and take the one which is likely to

prove the most interesting. Which of them would do this better than the last, where the recital of the whole

affair is probably summed up? Proper names might put me on the track, among others that of Joam Dacosta;

and if he had anything to do with this document, his name will evidently not be absent from its concluding

The magistrate's reasoning was logical, and he was decidedly right in bringing all his resources to bear in the

Here is the paragraph, for it is necessary to again bring it before the eyes of the reader so as to show how an

"P h y j s l y d d q f d z x g a s g z z q q e h x g k f n d r x u j u g I o c y t d x v k s b x h h u y p o h d v y r y m

h u h p u y d k j o x p h e t o z l s l e t n p m v f f o v p d p a j x h y y n o j y g g a y m e q y n f u q l n m v l y f

g s u z m q I z t l b q q y u g s q e u b v n r c r e d g r u z b l r m x y u h q h p z d r r g c r o h e p q x u f I v v r

p l p h o n t h v d d q f h q s n t z h h h n f e p m q k y u u e x k t o g z g k y u u m f v I j d q d p z j q s y k r p l

At the outset, Judge Jarrizuez noticed that the lines of the document were not divided either into words or

phrases, and that there was a complete absence of punctuation. This fact could but render the reading of the

"Let us see, however," he said, "if there is not some assemblage of letters which appears to form a wordI

mean a pronounceable word, whose number of consonants is in proportion to its vowels. And at the

beginning I see the word phy; further on the word gas. Halloo! ujugi. Does that mean the African town on the

banks of Tanganyika? What has that got to do with all this? Further on here is the word ypo. Is it Greek,

then? Close by here is rym and puy, and jox, and phetoz, and jyggay, and mv, and qruz. And before that we

have got red and let. That is good! those are two English words. Then ohesyk; then rym once more, and

"All the words I see in this thing seem queer!" he said. "In fact, there is nothing to give a clue to their origin.

Some look like Greek, some like Dutch; some have an English twist, and some look like nothing at all! To

say nothing of these series of consonants which are not wanted in any human pronunciation. Most assuredly

The magistrate's fingers commenced to beat a tattoo on his deska kind of reveille to arouse his dormant

"Two hundred and seventysix!" he said. "Well, now let us try what proportion these different letters bear to

This occupied him for some time. The judge took up the document, and, with his pen in his hand, he noted

"Ah, ah!" he exclaimed. "One thing strikes me at once, and that is that in this paragraph all the letters of the

alphabet are not used. That is very strange. If we take up a book and open it by chance it will be very seldom

that we shall hit upon two hundred and seventysix letters without all the signs of the alphabet figuring

among them. After all, it may be chance," and then he passed to a different train of thought. "One important

And so he seized his pen, counted up the vowels, and obtained the following result:

"And thus there are in this paragraph, after we have done our subtraction, sixtyfour vowels and two hundred

and twelve consonants. Good! that is the normal proportion. That is about a fifth, as in the alphabet, where

there are six vowels among twentysix letters. It is possible, therefore, that the document is written in the

language of our country, and that only the signification of each letter is changed. If it has been modified in

regular order, and a b is always represented by an l, and o by a v, a g by a k, an u by an r, etc., I will give up

my judgeship if I do not read it. What can I do better than follow the method of that great analytical genius,

Judge Jarriquez herein alluded to a story by the great American romancer, which is a masterpiece. Who has

not read the "Gold Bug?" In this novel a cryptogram, composed of ciphers, letters, algebraic signs, asterisks,

fullstops, and commas, is submitted to a truly mathematical analysis, and is deciphered under extraordinary

conditions, which the admirers of that strange genius can never forget. On the reading of the American

document depended only a treasure, while on that of this one depended a man's life. Its solution was

The magistrate, who had often read and reread his "Gold Bug," was perfectly acquainted with the steps in

the analysis so minutely described by Edgar Poe, and he resolved to proceed in the same way on this

occasion. In doing so he was certain, as he had said, that if the value or signification of each letter remained

"What did Edgar Poe do?" he repeated. "First of all he began by finding out the signhere there are only

letters, let us say the letterwhich was reproduced the oftenest. I see that that is h, for it is met with

twentythree times. This enormous proportion shows, to begin with, that h does not stand for h, but, on the

contrary, that it represents the letter which recurs most frequently in our language, for I suppose the document

is written in Portuguese. In English or French it would certainly be e, in Italian it would be i or a, in

After this was done, the judge found out the letter which recurred most frequently after h, and so on, and he

"Now the letter a only occurs thrice!" exclaimed the judge, "and it ought to occur the oftenest. Ah! that

clearly proves that the meaning had been changed. And now, after a or o, what are the letters which figure

oftenest in our language? Let us see," and Judge Jarriquez, with truly remarkable sagacity, which denoted a

very observant mind, started on this new quest. In this he was only imitating the American romancer, who,

great analyst as he was, had, by simple induction, been able to construct an alphabet corresponding to the

signs of the cryptogram and by means of it to eventually read the pirate's parchment note with ease.

The magistrate set to work in the same way, and we may affirm that he was no whit inferior to his illustrious

master. Thanks to his previous work at logogryphs and squares, rectangular arrangements and other enigmas,

which depend only on an arbitrary disposition of the letters, he was already pretty strong in such mental

pastimes. On this occasion he sought to establish the order in which the letters were reproducedvowels

Three hours had elapsed since he began. He had before his eyes an alphabet which, if his procedure were

right, would give him the right meaning of the letters in the document. He had only to successively apply the

letters of his alphabet to those of his paragraph. But before making this application some slight emotion

seized upon the judge. He fully experienced the intellectual gratificationmuch greater than, perhaps, would

be thoughtof the man who, after hours of obstinate endeavor, saw the impatiently soughtfor sense of the

"Now let us try," he said; "and I shall be very much surprised if I have not got the solution of the enigma!"

Judge Jarriquez took off his spectacles and wiped the glasses; then he put them back again and bent over the

table. His special alphabet was in one hand, the cryptogram in the other. He commenced to write under the

first line of the paragraph the true letters, which, according to him, ought to correspond exactly with each of

the cryptographic letters. As with the first line so did he with the second, and the third, and the fourth, until

Oddity as he was, he did not stop to see as he wrote if the assemblage of letters made intelligible words. No;

during the first stage his mind refused all verification of that sort. What he desired was to give himself the

And he read. Good heavens! what cacophony! The lines he had formed with the letters of his alphabet had no

more sense in them that those of the document! It was another series of letters, and that was all. They formed

IT WAS SEVEN o'clock in the evening. Judge Jarriquez had all the time been absorbed in working at the

puzzleand was no further advancedand had forgotten the time of repast and the time of repose, when

It was time. An hour later, and all the cerebral substance of the vexed magistrate would certainly have

At the order to enterwhich was given in an impatient tonethe door opened and Manoel presented

The young doctor had left his friends on board the jangada at work on the indecipherable document, and had

come to see Judge Jarriquez. He was anxious to know if he had been fortunate in his researches. He had come

to ask if he had at length discovered the system on which the cryptogram had been written.

The magistrate was not sorry to see Manoel come in. He was in that state of excitement that solitude was

exasperating to him. He wanted some one to speak to, some one as anxious to penetrate the mystery as he

"Wir," said Manoel as he entered, "one question! Have you succeeded better than we have?"

"Sit down first," exclaimed Judge Jarriquez, who got up and began to pace the room. "Sit down. If we are

both of us standing, you will walk one way and I shall walk the other, and the room will be too narrow to

"No! I have not had any success!" replied the magistrate; "I do not think I am any better off. I have got

"That the document is not based on conventional signs, but on what is known in cryptology as a cipher, that is

"Yes," said Jarriquez, "if a letter is invariably represented by the same letter; if an a, for example, is always a

"In this document the value of the letter changes with the arbitrarily selected cipher which necessitates it. So

a b will in one place be represented by a k will later on become a z, later on an u or an n or an f, or any other

"Indecipherable!" exclaimed Manoel. "No, sir; we shall end by finding the key of the document on which the

Manoel had risen, a prey to the excitement he could not control; the reply he had received was too hopeless,

At a gesture from the judge, however, he sat down again, and in a calmer voice asked:

"And in the first place, sir, what makes you think that the basis of this document is a number, or, as you call

"Listen to me, young man," replied the judge, "and you will be forced to give in to the evidence."

The magistrate took the document and put it before the eyes of Manoel and showed him what he had done.

"I began," he said, "by treating this document in the proper way, that is to say, logically, leaving nothing to

chance. I applied to it an alphabet based on the proportion the letters bear to one another which is usual in our

language, and I sought to obtain the meaning by following the precepts of our immortal analyst, Edgar Poe.

"Yes, my dear young man, and I at once saw that success sought in that fashion was impossible. In truth, a

"Take the document," continued Judge Jarriquez; "first look at the disposition of the letters, and read it

"Do you not see that the combination of several of the letters is very strange?" asked the magistrate.

"I do not see anything," said Manoel, after having for perhaps the hundredth time read through the document.

"Well! study the last paragraph! There you understand the sense of the whole is bound to be summed up. Do

"There is, however, one thing which absolutely proves that the language is subject to the laws of number."

What Jarriquez said was correct, and it was of a nature to attract attention. The two hundred and fourth, two

hundred and fifth, and two hundred and sixth letters of the paragraph, and the two hundred and fiftyeight,

two hundred and fiftyninth, and two hundred and sixtieth letters of the paragraph were consecutive h's. At

"And that proves?" asked Manoel, without divining the deduction that could be drawn from the combination.

"That simply proves that the basis of the document is a number. It shows � priori that each letter is modified

in virtue of the ciphers of the number and according to the place which it occupies."

"Because in no language will you find words with three consecutive repetitions of the letter h."

Manoel was struck with the argument; he thought about it, and, in short, had no reply to make."

"And had I made the observation sooner," continued the magistrate, "I might have spared myself a good deal

"But, sir," asked Manoel, who felt the little hope vanishing on which he had hitherto rested, "what do you

Judge Jarriquez sat down at the table, took up a sheet of paper and a pencil, and said:

"Now, Mr. Manoel, let us choose a sentence by chance, the first that comes; for instance:

That done" said the magistrate, to whom the phrase seemed to contain a proposition beyond dispute, looking

Manoel straight in the face, "suppose I take a number by chance, so as to give a cryptographic form to this

natural succession of words; suppose now this word is composed ot three ciphers, and let these ciphers be 2,

3, and 4. Now on the line below I put the number 234, and repeat it as many times as are necessary to get to

the end of the phrase, and so that every cipher comes underneath a letter. This is what we get:

And now, Mr. Manoel, replacing each letter by the letter in advance of it in alphabetical order according to

"If, on account of the value of the ciphers which compose the number I come to the end of the alphabet

without having enough complementary letters to deduct, I begin again at the beginning. That is what happens

at the end of my name when the z is replaced by the 3. As after z the alphabet has no more letters, I

commence to count from a, and so get the c. That done, when I get to the end of this cryptographic system,

made up of the 234which was arbitrarily selected, do not forget!the phrase which you recognize above

"And now, young man, just look at it, and do you not think it is very much like what is in the document?

Well, what is the consequence? Why, that the signification of the letters depends on a cipher which chance

puts beneath them, and the cryptographic letter which answers to a true one is not always the same. So in this

phrase the first j is represented by an l, the second by an n; the first e by an h, the second b a g, the third by an

h; the first d is represented by an h, the last by a g; the first u by an x, the last by a y; the first and second a's

by a c, the last by an e; and in my own name one r is represented by a u, the other by a v. and so on. Now do

you see that if you do not know the cipher 234 you will never be able to read the lines, and consequently if

On hearing the magistrate reason with such careful logic, Manoel was at first overwhelmed, but, raising his

"We might have done so," answered Judge Jarriquez, "if the lines of the document had been divided into

"For this reason, young man. I think we can assume that in the last paragraph all that is written in these earlier

paragraphs is summed up. Now I am convinced that in it will be found the name of Joam Dacosta. Well, if

the lines had been divided into words, in trying the words one after the otherI mean the words composed of

seven letters, as the name of Dacosta isit would not have been impossible to evolve the number which is

"Will you explain to me how you ought to proceed to do that, sir?" asked Manoel, who probably caught a

"Nothing can be more simple," answered the judge. "Let us take, for example, one of the words in the

sentence we have just writtenmy name, if you like. It is represented in the cryptogram by this queer

succession of letters, ncuvktygc. Well, arranging these letters in a column, one under the other, and then

placing against them the letters of my name and deducting one from the other the numbers of their places in

"Now what is the column of ciphers made up of that we have got by this simple operation? Look here! 423

"You understand, then, by this means, that in calculating the true letter from the false, instead of the false

from the true, I have been able to discover the number with ease; and the number I was in search of is really

"Well, sir!" exclaimed Manoel, "if that is so, the name of Dacosta is in the last paragraph; and taking

successively each letter of those lines for the first of the seven letters which compose his name, we ought to

"That the first cipher of the number should happen to be the first letter of the word Dacosta, and I think you

"Quite so!" sighed Manoel, who, with this improbability, saw the last chance vanish.

"And so we must trust to chance alone," continued Jarriquez, who shook his head, "and chance does not often

"This number," exclaimed the magistrate"this number? But how many ciphers is it composed of? Of two,

or three, or four, or nine, or ten? Is it made of different ciphers only or of ciphers in different order many

times repeated? Do you not know, young man, that with the ordinary ten ciphers, using all at a time, but

without any repetition, you can make three million two hundred and sixtyeight thousand and eight hundred

different numbers, and that if you use the same cipher more than once in the number, these millions of

combinations will be enormously increased! And do you not know that if we employ every one of the five

hundred and twentyfive thousand and six hundred minutes of which the year is composed to try at each of

these numbers, it would take you six years, and that you would want three centuries if each operation you an

"Impossible, sir?" answered Manoel. "An innocent man has been branded as guilty, and Joam Dacosta is to

lose his life and his honor while you hold in your hands the material proof of his innocence! That is what is

"Ah! young man!" exclaimed Jarriquez, "who told you, after all, that Torres did not tell a lie? Who told you

that he really did have in his hands a document written by the author of the crime? that this paper was the

In fact, nothing could prove for certain that the document had anything to do with the affair in the diamond

province. There was, in fact, nothing to show that it was not utterly devoid of meaning, and that it had been

imagined by Torres himself, who was as capable of selling a false thing as a true one!

"It does not matter, Manoel," continued the judge, rising; "it does not matter! Whatever it may be to which

the document refers, I have not yet given up discovering the cipher. After all, it is worth more than a

At these words Manoel rose, shook hands with the magistrate, and returned to the jangada, feeling more

A COMPLETE change took place in public opinion on the subject of Joam Dacosta. To anger succeeded pity.

The population no longer thronged to the prison of Manaos to roar out cries of death to the prisoner. On the

contrary, the most forward of them in accusing him of being the principal author of the crime of Tijuco now

averred that he was not guilty, and demanded his immediate restoration to liberty. Thus it always is with the

The events which had happened during the last few daysthe struggle between Benito and Torres; the

search for the corpse, which had reappeared under such extraordinary circumstances; the finding of the

"indecipherable" document, if we can so call it; the information it concealed, the assurance that it contained,

or rather the wish that it contained, the material proof of the guiltlessness of Joam Dacosta; and the hope that

it was written by the real culpritall these things had contributed to work the change in public opinion.

What the people had desired and impatiently demanded fortyeight hours before, they now feared, and that

Joam Dacosta had been arrested on the 24th of August, and examined next day. The judge's report was sent

off on the 26th. It was now the 28th. In three or four days more the minister would have come to a decision

regarding the convict, and it was only too certain that justice would take its course.

There was no doubt that such would be the case. On the other hand, that the assurance of Dacosta's innocence

would appear from the document, was not doubted by anybody, neither by his family nor by the fickle

population of Manaos, who excitedly followed the phases of this dramatic affair.

But, on the other hand, in the eyes of disinterested or indifferent persons who were not affected by the event,

what value could be assigned to this document? and how could they even declare that it referred to the crime

in the diamond arrayal? It existed, that was undeniable; it had been found on the corpse of Torres, nothing

could be more certain. It could even be seen, by comparing it with the letter in which Torres gave the

information about Joam Dacosta, that the document was not in the handwriting of the adventurer. But, as had

been suggested by Judge Jarriquez, why should not the scoundrel have invented it for the sake of his bargain?

And this was less unlikely to be the case, considering that Torres had declined to part with it until after his

marriage with Dacosta's daughterthat is to say, when it would have been impossible to undo an

All these views were held by some people in some form, and we can quite understand what interest the affair

created. In any case, the situation of Joam Dacosta was most hazardous. If trhe document were not

deciphered, it would be just the same as if it did not exist; and if the secret of the cryptogram were not

miraculously divined or revealed before the end of the three days, the supreme sentence would inevitably be

suffered by the doomed man of Tijuco. And this miracle a man attempted to perform! The man was Jarriquez,

and he now really set to work more in the interest of Joam Dacosta than for the satisfaction of his analytical

faculties. A complete change had also taken place in his opinion. Was not this man, who had voluntarily

abandoned his retreat at Iquitos, who had come at the risk of his life to demand his rehabilitation at the hands

of Brazilian justice, a moral enigma worth all the others put together? And so the judge had resolved never to

leave the document until he had discovered the cipher. He set to work at it in a fury. He ate no more; he slept

no more! All his time was passed in inventing combinations of numbers, in forging a key to force this lock!

This idea had taken possession of Judge Jarriquez's brain at the end of the first day. Suppressed frenzy

consumed him, and kept him in a perpetual heat. His whole house trembled; his servants, black or white,

dared not come near him. Fortunately he was a bachelor; had there been a Madame Jarriquez she would have

had a very uncomfortable time of it. Never had a problem so taken possession of this oddity, and he had

thoroughly made up his mind to get at the solution, even if his head exploded like an overheated boiler under

It was perfectly clear to the mind of the worthy magistrate that the key to the document was a number,

composed of two or more ciphers, but what this number was all investigation seemed powerless to discover.

This was the enterprise on which Jarriquez, in quite a fury, was engaged, and during this 28th of August he

To arrive at the number by chance, he said, was to lose himself in millions of combinations, which would

absorb the life of a firstrate calculator. But if he could in no respect reckon on chance, was it impossible to

proceed by reasoning? Decidedly not! And so it was "to reason till he became unreasoning" that Judge

Jarriquez gave himself up after vainly seeking repose in a few hours of sleep. He who ventured in upon him

at this moment, after braving the formal defenses which protected his solitude, would have found him, as on

the day before, in his study, before his desk, with the document under his eyes, the thousands of letters of

"Ah!" he explaimed, "why did not the scoundrel who wrote this separate the words in this paragraph? We

mightwe will trybut no! However, if there is anything here about the murder and the robbery, two or

three words there must be in it'arrayal,' 'diamond,' 'Tijuco,' 'Dacosta,' and others; and in putting down their

cryptological equivalents the number could be arrived at. But there is nothingnot a single break!not one

word by itself! One word of two hundred and seventysix letters! I hope the wretch may be blessed two

hundred and seventysix times for complicating his system in this way! He ought to be hanged two hundred

And a violent thump with his fist on the document emphasized this charitable wish.

"But," continued the magistrate, "if I cannot find one of the words in the body of the document, I might at

least try my hand at the beginning and end of each paragraph. There may be a chance there that I ought not to

And impressed with this idea Judge Jarriquez successively tried if the letters which commenced or finished

the different paragraphs could be made to correspond with those which formed the most important word,

Now, at the very first letter Jarriquez was stopped in his calculations, for the difference in alphabetical

position between the d and the p gave him not one cipher, but two, namely, 12, and in this kind of

It was the same for the seven last letters of the paragraph, p s u v j h d, of which the series also commences

with a p, and which in no case could stand for the d in Dacosta, because these letters were in like manner

The same observation applies to the words arrayal and Tijuco, which were successively tried, but whose

After he had got so far, Judge Jarriquez, with his head nearly splitting, arose and paced his office, went for

fresh air to the window, and gave utterance to a growl, at the noise of which a flock of hummingbirds,

murmuring among the foliage of a mimosa tree, betook themselves to flight. Then he returned to the

"The humbig! the rascal!" he hissed; "it will end by driving me mad! But steady! Be calm! Don't let our

And then, having refreshed himself by giving his head a thorough sluicing with cold water:

"Let us try another way," he said, "and as I cannot hit upon the number from the arrangement of the letters,

let us see what number the author of the document would have chosen in confessing that he was the author of

This was another method for the magistrate to enter upon, and maybe he was right, for there was a certain

"And first let us try a date! Why should not the culprit have taken the date of the year in which Dacosta, the

innocent man he allowed to be sentenced in his own place, was born? Was he likely to forget a number which

was so important to him? Then Joam Dacosta was born in 1804. Let us see what 1804 will give us as a

And Judge Jarriquez wrote the first letters of the paragraph, and putting over them the number 1804 repeated

And this was meaningless! And he wanted three letters which he had to replace by points, because the

ciphers, 8, 4, and 4, which command the three letters, h, d, and d, do not give corresponding letters in

And he asked himself, if instead of this first date the author of the document had not rather selected the date

the same meaningless series, the same absence of sense, as many letters wanting as in the former instance,

"Bother the number!" exclaimed the magistrate. "We must give it up again. Let us have another one! Perhaps

Now the value of the stolen diamonds was estimated at eight hundred and thirtyfour contos, or about

"Confound the document and him who imagined it!" shouted Jarriquez, throwing down the paper, which was

But the short burst of anger passed away, and the magistrate, who had no idea of being beaten, picked up the

paper. What he had done with the first letters of the different paragraphs he did with the lastand to no

He tried in succession the numbers which represented Dacosta's age, which would have been known to the

author of the crime, the date of his arrest, the date of the sentence at the Villa Rica assizes, the date fixed for

Judge Jarriquez had worked himself into such a state of exasperation that there really was some fear that his

mental faculties would lose their balance. He jumped about, and twisted about, and wrestled about as if he

really had got hold of his enemy's body. Then suddenly he cried, "Now for chance! Heaven help me now,

His hand seized a bellpull hanging near his table. The bell rang furiously, and the magistrate strode up to the

Bobo was a freed negro, who was the privileged servant of Jarriquez. He did not appear; it was evident that

Another ring at the bell; another call to Bobo, who, for his own safety, pretended to be deaf on this occasion.

This time Bobo came up. "What is it, sir?" asked Bobo, prudently waiting on the threshold.

"Advance, without uttering a single word!" replied the judge, whose flaming eyes made the negro quake

"Bobo," said Jarriquez, "attend to what I say, and answer immediately; do not even take time to think, or

Bobo, with fixed eyes and open mouth, brought his feet together like a soldier and stood at attention.

"Now, then, tell me, without a moment's thoughtyou understandthe first number than comes into your

"76223," answered Bobo, all in a breath. Bobo thought he would please his master by giving him a pretty

Judge Jarriquez had run to the table, and, pencil in hand, had made out a formula with the number given by

It is obvious that it was most unlikely that a number such as 76223 was the key of the document, and it

produced no other result than to bring to the lips of Jarriquez such a vigorous ejaculation that Bobo

THE MAGISTRATE, however, was not the only one who passed his time unprofitably. Benito, Manoel, and

Minha tried all they could together to extract the secret from the document on which depended their father's

life and honor. On his part, Fragoso, aided by Lina, could not remain quiet, but all their ingenuity had failed,

Here we should say that Fragoso had an idea of a project of which he had not even spoken to Lina, but which

had taken full possession of his mind. This was to go in search of the gang to which the excaptain of the

woods had belonged, and to find out who was the probable author of this cipher document, which was

supposed to be the confession of the culprit of Tijuco. The part of the Amazon where these people were

employed, the very place where Fragoso had met Torres a few years before, was not very far from Manaos.

He would only have to descend the river for about fifty miles, to the mouth of the Madeira, a tributary

coming in on the right, and there he was almost sure to meet the head of these "capitaes do mato," to which

Torres belonged. In two days, or three days at the outside, Fragoso could get into communication with the old

"Yes! I could do that," he repeated to himself; "but what would be the good of it, supposing I succeeded? If

we are sure that one of Torres' companions has recently died, would that prove him to be the author of this

crime? Would that show that he gave Torres a document in which he announced himself the author of this

crime, and exonerated Joam Dacosta? Would that give us the key of the document? No! Two men only knew

So reasoned Fragoso. It was evident that his enterprise would do no good. But the thought of it was too much

for him. An irresistible influence impelled him to set out, although he was not even sure of finding the band

on the Madeira. In fact, it might be engaged in some other part of the province, and to come up with it might

require more time than Fragoso had at his disposal! And what would be the result?

It is none the less true, however, that on the 29th of August, before sunrise, Fragoso, without saying anything

to anybody, secretly left the jangada, arrived at Manaos, and embarked in one of the egariteas which daily

And great was the astonishment when he was not seen on board, and did not appear during the day. No one,

not even Lina, could explain the absence of so devoted a servant at such a crisis.

Some of them even asked, and not without reason, if the poor fellow, rendered desperate at having, when he

met him on the frontier, personally contributed to bringing Torres on board the raft, had not made away with

But if Fragoso could so reproach himself, how about Benito? In the first place at Iquitos he had invited Torres

to visit the fazenda; in the second place he had brought him on board the jangada, to become a passenger on

it; and in the third place, in killing him, he had annihilated the only witness whose evidence could save the

And so Benito considered himself responsible for everythingthe arrest of his father, and the terrible events

In fact, had Torres been alive, Benito could not tell but that, in some way or another, from pity or for reward,

he would have finished by handing over the document. Would not Torres, whom nothing could compromise,

have been persuaded to speak, had money been brought to bear upon him? Would not the longsoughtfor

proof have been furnished to the judge? Yes, undoubtedly! And the only man who could have furnished this

Such was what the wretched man continually repeated to his mother, to Manoel, and to himself. Such were

Between her husband, with whom she passed all the time that was allowed her, and her son, a prey to despair

which made her tremble for his reason, the brave Yaquita lost none of her moral energy. In her they found the

The attitude of Joam Dacosta was well adapted to sustain her in this ordeal. That gallant man, that rigid

Puritan, that austere worker, whose whole life had been a battle, had not yet shown a moment of weakness.

The most terrible blow which had struck him without prostrating him had been the death of Judge Ribeiro, in

whose mind his innocence did not admit of a doubt. Was it not with the help of his old defender that he had

hoped to strive for his rehabilitation? The intervention of Torres he had regarded throughout as being quite

secondary for him. And of this document he had no knowledge when he left Iquitos to hand himself over to

the justice of his country. He only took with him moral proofs. When a material proof was unexpectedly

produced in the course of the affair, before or after his arrest, he was certainly not the man to despise it. But

if, on account of regrettable circumstances, the proof disappeared, he would find himself once more in the

same position as when he passed the Brazilian frontierthe position of a man who came to say, "Here is my

past life; here is my present; here is an entirely honest existence of work and devotion which I bring you. You

passed on me at first an erroneous judgment. After twentythree years of exile I have come to give myself

The death of Torres, the impossibility of reading the document found on him, had thus not produced on Joam

Dacosta the impression which it had on his children, his friends, his household, and all who were interested in

"I have faith in my innocence," he repeated to Yaquita, "as I have faith in God. If my life is still useful to my

people, and a miracle is necessary to save me, that miracle will be performed; if not, I shall die! God alone is

The excitement increased in Manaos as the time ran on; the affair was discussed with unexampled acerbity.

In the midst of this enthralment of public opinion, which evoked so much of the mysterious, the document

At the end of this fourth day not a single person doubted but that it contained the vindication of the doomed

man. Every one had been given an opportunity of deciphering its incomprehensible contents, for the "Diario

d'o Grand Para" had reproduced it in facsimile. Autograph copies were spread about in great numbers at the

suggestion of Manoel, who neglect nothing that might lead to the penetration of the mysterynot even

In addition, a reward of one hundred contos (or three hundred thousand francs) was promised to any one who

could discover the cipher so fruitlessly sought afterand read the document. This was quite a fortune, and so

people of all classes forgot to eat, drink, or sleep to attack this unintelligible cryptogram.

Up to the present, however, all had been useless, and probably the most ingenious analysts in the world

would have spent their time in vain. It had been advertised that any solution should be sent, without delay, to

Judge Jarriquez, to his house in GodtheSon Street; but the evening of the 29th of August came and none

Of all those who took up the study of the puzzle, Judge Jarriquez was one of the most to be pitied. By a

natural association of ideas, he also joined in the general opinion that the document referred to the affair at

Tijuco, and that it had ben written by the hand of the guilty man, and exonerated Joam Dacosta. And so he

put even more ardor into his search for the key. It was not only the art for art's sake which guided him, it was

a sentiment of justice, of pity toward a man suffering under an unjust condemnation. If it is the fact that a

certain quantity of phosphorus is expended in the work of the brain, it would be difficult to say how many

milligrammes the judge had parted with to excite the network of his "sensorium," and after all, to find out

But Jarriquez had no idea of abandoning the inquiry. If he could only now trust to chance, he would work on

for that chance. He tried to evoke it by all means possible and impossible. He had given himself over to fury

During the latter part of this day he had been trying different numbersnumbers selected arbitrarilyand

how many of them can scarcely be imagined. Had he had the time, he would not have shrunk from plunging

into the millions of combinations of which the ten symbols of numeration are capable. He would have given

his whole life to it at the risk of going mad before the year was out. Mad! was he not that already? He had had

the idea that the document might be read through the paper, and so he turned it round and exposed it to the

Nothing! The numbers already thought of, and which he tried in this new way, gave no result. Perhaps the

document read backward, and the last letter was really the first, for the author would have done this had he

Nothing! The new combination only furnished a series of letters just as enigmatic.

At eight o'clock in the evening Jarriquez, with his face in his hands, knocked up, worn out mentally and

physically, had neither strength to move, to speak, to think, or to associate one idea with another.

Suddenly a noise was heard outside. Almost immediately, notwithstanding his formal orders, the door of his

study was thrown open. Benito and Manoel were before him, Benito looking dreadfully pale, and Manoel

supporting him, for the unfortunate young man had hardly strength to support himself.

"The cipher! the cipher!" exclaimed Benito, mad with grief"the cipher of the document."

"Nothing?" gasped Benito, and in a paroxysm of despair he took a knife from his belt and would have

plunged it into his breast had not the judge and Manoel jumped forward and managed to disarm him.

"Benito," said Jarriquez, ina voice which he tried to keep calm, "if you father cannot escape the expiation of a

"That is for you to discover," answered the magistrate, "and not for me to say."

ON THE FOLLOWING day, the 30th of August, Benito and Manoel talked matters over together. They had

understood the thought to which the judge had not dared to give utterance in their presence, and were

engaged in devising some means by which the condemned man could escape the penalty of the law.

Nothing else was left for them to do. It was only too certain that for the authorities at Rio Janeiro the

undeciphered document would nave no value whatever, that it would be a dead letter, that the first verdict

which declared Joam Dacosta the perpetrator of the crime at Tijuco would not be set aside, and that, as in

such cases no commutation of the sentence was possible, the order for his execution would inevitably be

Once more, then, Joam Dacosta would have to escape by flight from an unjust imprisonment.

It was at the outset agreed between the two young men that the secret should be carefully kept, and that

neither Yaquita nor Minha should be informed of preparations, which would probably only give rise to hopes

destined never to be realized. Who could tell if, owing to some unforeseen circumstance, the attempt at

The presence of Fragoso on such an occasion would have been most valuable. Discreet and devoted, his

services would have been most welcome to the two young fellows; but Fragoso had not reappeared. Lina,

when asked, could only say that she knew not what had become of him, nor why he had left the raft without

And assuredly, had Fragoso foreseen that things would have turned out as they were doing, he would never

have left the Dacosta family on an expedition which appeared to promise no serious result. Far better for him

to have assisted in the escape of the doomed man than to have hurried off in search of the former comrades of

At daybreak Benito and Manoel left the raft and proceeded to Manaos. They soon reached the town, and

passed through its narrow streets, which at that early hour were quite deserted. In a few minutes they arrived

in front of the prison. The waste ground, amid which the old convent which served for a house of detention

was built, was traversed by them in all directions, for they had come to study it with the utmost care.

Fiftyfive feet from the ground, in an angle of the building, they recognized the window of the cell in which

Joam Dacosta was confined. The window was secured with iron bars in a miserable state of repair, which it

would be easy to tear down or cut through if they could only get near enough. The badly jointed stones in the

wall, which were crumbled away every here and there, offered many a ledge for the feet to rest on, if only a

rope could be fixed to climb up by. One of the bars had slipped out of its socket, and formed a hook over

which it might be possible to throw a rope. That done, one or two of the bars could be removed, so as to

permit a man to get through. Benito and Manoel would then have to make their way into the prisoner's room,

and without much difficulty the escape could be managed by means of the rope fastened to the projecting

iron. During the night, if the sky were very cloudy, none of these operations would be noticed before the day

Manoel and Benito spent an hour about the spot, taking care not to attract attention, but examining the

locality with great exactness, particularly as regarded the position of the window, the arrangement of the iron

"That is agreed," said Manoel at length. "And now, ought Joam Dacosta to be told about this?"

"No, Manoel. Neither to him, any more than to my mother, ought we to impart the secret of an attempt in

"We shall succeed, Benito!" continued Manoel. "However, we must prepare for everything; and in case the

"Good!" replied Manoel. "But once your father is out of prison he cannot remain hidden in the town or on the

A hundred paces away from the prison, however, the waste land was crossed by one of those canals which

flow through the town into the Rio Negro. This canal afforded an easy way of gaining the river if a pirogue

were in waiting for the fugitive. From the foot of the wall to the canal side was hardly a hundred yards.

Benito and Manoel decided that about eight o'clock in the evening one of the pirogues, with two strong

rowers, under the command of the pilot Araujo, should start from the jangada. They could ascend the Rio

Negro, enter the canal, and, crossing the waste land, remain concealed throughout the night under the tall

But once on board, where was Joam Dacosta to seek refuge? To return to Iquitos was to follow a road full of

difficulties and peril, and a long one in any case, should the fugitive either travel across the country or by the

river. Neither by horse not pirogue could he be got out of danger quickly enough, and the fazenda was no

longer a safe retreat. He would not return to it as the fazender, Joam Garral, but as the convict, Joam Dacosta,

continually in fear of his extradition. He could never dream of resuming his former life.

To get away by the Rio Negro into the north of the province, or even beyond the Brazilian territory, would

require more time than he could spare, and his first care must be to escape from immediate pursuit.

To start again down the Amazon? But stations, village, and towns abounded on both sides of the river. The

description of the fugitive would be sent to all the police, and he would run the risk of being arrested long

before he reached the Atlantic. And supposing he reached the coast, where and how was he to hide and wait

On consideration of these various plans, Benito and Manoel agreed that neither of them was practicable. One,

however, did offer some chance of safety, and that was to embark in the pirogue, follow the canal into the Rio

Negro, descend this tributary under the guidance of the pilot, reach the confluence of the rivers, and run down

the Amazon along its right bank for some sixty miles during the nights, resting during the daylight, and so

This tributary, which, fed by a hundred affluents, descends from the watershed of the Cordilleras, is a regular

waterway opening into the very heart of Bolivia. A pirogue could pass up it and leave no trace of its passage,

and a refuge could be found in some town or village beyond the Brazilian frontier. There Joam Dacosta

would be comparatively safe, and there for several months he could wait for an opportunity of reaching the

Pacific coast and taking passage in some vessel leaving one of its ports; and if the ship were bound for one of

the States of North America he would be free. Once there, he could sell the fazenda, eave his country forever,

and seek beyond the sea, in the Old World, a final retreat in which to end an existence so cruelly and unjustly

disturbed. Anywhere he might go, his familynot excepting Manoel, who was bound to him by so many

"Let us go," said Benito; "we must have all ready before night, and we have no time to lose."

The young men returned on board by way of the canal bank, which led along the Rio Negro. They satisfied

themselves that the passage of the pirogue would be quite possible, and that no obstacles such as locks or

boats under repair were there to stop it. They then descended the left bank of the tributary, avoiding the

Benito's first care was to see his mother. He felt sufficiently master of himself to dissemble the anxiety which

consumed him. He wished to assure her that all hope was not lost, that the mystery of the document would be

cleared up, that in any case public opinion was in favor of Joam, and that, in face of the agitation which was

being made in his favor, justice would grant all the necessary time for the production of the material proof his

innocence. "Yes, mother," he added, "before tomorrow we shall be free from anxiety."

"May heaven grant it so!" replied Yaquita, and she looked at him so keenly that Benito could hardly meet her

On his part, and as if by prearrangement, Manoel had tried to reassure Minha by telling her that Judge

Jarriquez was convinced of the innocence of Joam, and would try to save him by every means in his power.

"I only wish he would, Manoel," answered she, endeavoring in vain to restrain her tears.

And Manoel left her, for the tears were also welling up in his eyes and witnessing against the words of hope

And now the time had arrived for them to make their daily visit to the prisoner, and Yaquita and her daughter

For an hour the young men were in consultation with Araujo. They acquainted him with their plan in all its

details, and they discussed not only the projected escape, but the measures which were necessary for the

Araujo approved of everything; he undertook during the approaching night to take the pirogue up the canal

without attracting any notice, and he knew its course thoroughly as far as the spot where he was to await the

arrival of Joam Dacosta. To get back to the mouth of the Rio Negro was easy enough, and the pirogue would

be able to pass unnoticed among the numerous craft continually descending the river.

Araujo had no objection to offer to the idea of following the Amazon down to its confluence with the

Madeira. The course of the Madeira was familiar to him for quite two hundred miles up, and in the midst of

these thinlypeopled provinces, even if pursuit took place in their direction, all attempts at capture could be

easily frustrated; they could reach the interior of Bolivia, and if Joam decided to leave his country he could

procure a passage with less danger on the coast of the Pacific than on that of the Atlantic.

Araujo's approval was most welcome to the young fellows; they had great faith in the practical good sense of

the pilot, and not without reason. His zeal was undoubted, and he would assuredly have risked both life and

With the utmost secrecy Araujo at once set about his preparations. A considerable sum in gold was handed

over to him by Benito to meet all eventualities during the voyage on the Madeira. In getting the pirogue

ready, he announced his intention of going in search of Fragoso, whose fate excited a good deal of anxiety

among his companions. He stowed away in the boat provisions for many days, and did not forget the ropes

and tools which would be required by the young men when they reached the canal at the appointed time and

These preparations evoked no curiosity on the part of the crew of the jangada, and even the two stalwart

negroes were not let into the secret. They, however, could be absolutely depended on. Whenever they learned

what the work of safety was in which they were engagedwhen Joam Dacosta, once more free, was

confided to their chargeAraujo knew well that they would dare anything, even to the risk of their own

By the afternoon all was ready, and they had only the night to wait for. But before making a start Manoel

wished to call on Judge Jarriquez for the last time. The magistrate might perhaps have found out something

new about the document. Benito preferred to remain on the raft and wait for the return of his mother and

Manoel then presented himself at the abode of Judge Jarriquez, and was immediately admitted.

The magistrate, in the study which he never quitted, was still the victim of the same excitement. The

document crumpled by his impatient fingers, was still there before his eyes on the table.

"Sir," said Manoel, whose voice trembled as he asked the question, "have you received anything from Rio de

"No," answered the judge; "the order has not yet come to hand, but it may at any moment."

"Nothing yet!" exclaimed he. "Everything my imagination can suggest I have tried, and no result."

Manoel said nothing, but he pressed the hand which Jarriquez held out to him, and returned to the jangada to

THE VISIT of Yaquita and her daughter had been like all such visits during the few hours which each day the

husband and wife spent together. In the presence of the two beings whom Joam so dearly loved his heart

nearly failed him. But the husbandthe fatherretained his selfcommand. It was he who comforted the

two poor women and inspired them with a little of the hope of which so little now remained to him. They had

come with the intention of cheering the prisoner. Alas! far more than he they themselves were in want of

cheering! But when they found him still bearing himself unflinchingly in the midst of his terrible trial, they

Once more had Joam spoken encouraging words to them. His indomitable energy was due not only to the

feeling of his innocence, but to his faith in that God, a portion of whose justice yet dwells in the hearts of

Hardly ever did he mention the document. Whether it were apocryphal or no, whether it were in the

handwriting of Torres or in that of the real perpetrator of the crime, whether it contained or did not contain

the longedfor vindication, it was on no such doubtful hypothesis that Joam Dacosta presumed to trust. No;

he reckoned on a better argument in his favor, and it was to his long life of toil and honor that he relegated

This evening, then, his wife and daughter, strengthened by the manly words, which thrilled them to the core

of their hearts, had left him more confident than they had ever been since his arrest. For the last time the

prisoner had embraced them, and with redoubled tenderness. It seemed as though the d�nouement was nigh.

Joam Dacosta, after they had left, remained for some time perfectly motionless. His arms rested on a small

table and supported his head. Of what was he thinking? Had he at last been convinced that human justice,

Yes, he still hoped. With the report of Judge Jarriquez establishing his identity, he knew that his memoir,

which he had penned with so much sincerity, would have been sent to Rio Janeiro, and was now in the hands

of the chief justice. This memoir, as we know, was the history of his life from his entry into the offices of the

diamond arrayal until the very moment when the jangada stopped before Manaos. Joam Dacosta was

pondering over his whole career. He again lived his past life from the moment when, as an orphan, he had set

foot in Tijuco. There his zeal had raised him high in the offices of the governorgeneral, into which he had

been admitted when still very young. The future smiled on him; he would have filled some important

position. Then this sudden catastrophe; the robbery of the diamond convoy, the massacre of the escort, the

suspicion directed against him as the only official who could have divulged the secret of the expedition, his

arrest, his appearance before the jury, his conviction in spite of all the efforts of his advocate, the last hours

spent in the condemned cell at Villa Rica, his escape under conditions which betokened almost superhuman

courage, his flight through the northern provinces, his arrival on the Peruvian frontier, and the reception

which the starving fugitive had met with from the hospitable fazender Magalha�s.

The prisoner once more passed in review these events, which had so cruelly amrred his life. And then, lost in

his thoughts and recollections, he sat, regardless of a peculiar noise on the outer wall of the convent, of the

jerkings of a rope hitched on to a bar of his window, and of grating steel as it cut through iron, which ought at

Joam Dacosta continued to live the years of his youth after his arrival in Peru. He again saw the fazender, the

clerk, the partner of the old Portuguese, toiling hard for the prosperity of the establishment at Iquitos. Ah!

why at the outset had he not told all to his benefactor? He would never have doubted him. It was the only

error with which he could reproach himself. Why had he not confessed to him whence he had come, and who

he wasabove all, at the moment when Magalha�s had place in his hand the hand of the daughter who

And now the noise outside became loud enough to attract the prisoner's attention. For an instant Joam raised

his head; his eyes sought the window, but with a vacant look, as though he were unconscious, and the next

instant his head again sank into his hands. Again he was in thought back at Iquitos.

There the old fazender was dying; before his end he longed for the future of his daughter to be assured, for

his partner to be the sole master of the settlement which had grown so prosperous under his management.

Should Dacosta have spoken then? Perhaps; but he dared not do it. He again lived the happy days he had

spent with Yaquita, and again thought of the birth of his children, again felt the happiness which had its only

trouble in the remembrances of Tijuco and the remorse that he had not confessed his terrible secret.

The chain of events was reproduced in Joam's mind with a clearness and completeness quite remarkable.

And now he was thinking of the day when his daughter's marriage with Manoel had been decided. Could he

allow that union to take place under a false name without acquainting the lad with the mystery of his life?

No! And so at the advice of Judge Ribeiro he resolved to come and claim the revision of his sentence, to

demand the rehabilitation which was his due! He was starting with his people, and then came the intervention

of Torres, the detestable bargain proposed by the scoundrel, the indignant refusal of the father to hand over

his daughter to save his honor and his life, and then the denunciation and the arrest!

Benito leaped into the room; he was in the presence of his father, and the next moment Manoel, tearing down

Joam Dacosta would have uttered a cry of surprise. Benito left him no time to do so.

"Father," he said, "the window grating is down. A rope leads to the ground. A pirogue is waiting for you on

the canal not a hundred yards off. Araujo is there ready to take you far away from Manaos, on the other bank

of the Amazon where your track will never be discovered. Father, you must escape this very moment! It was

The young men had never thought of a difficulty like this. They had never reckoned on the hindrances to

Benito advanced to his father, and looking him straight in the face, and taking both his hands in his, not to

"Father," said Manoel"for I also have the right to call you fatherlisten to us! If we tell you that you

ought to fly without losing an instant, it is because if you remain you will be guilty toward others, toward

"To remain," continued Benito, "is to remain to die! The order for execution may come at any moment! If

you imagine that the justice of men will nullify a wrong decision, if you think it will rehabilitate you whom it

condemned twenty years since, you are mistaken! There is hope no longer! You must escape! Come!"

By an irresistible impulse Benito seized his father and drew him toward the window.

"To fly," he answered, in the tone of a man whose resolution was unalterable, "is to dishonor myself, and you

with me! It would be a confession of my guilt! Of my own free will I surrendered myself to my country's

"But the presumptions on which you trusted are insufficient," replied Manoel, "and the material proof of your

innocence is still wanting! If we tell you that you ought to fly, it is because Judge Jarriquez himself told us

"I will die, then," said Joam, in a calm voice. "I will die protesting against the decision which condemned me!

The first time, a few hours before the executionI fled! Yes! I was then young. I had all my life before me

in which to struggle against man's injustice! But to save myself now, to begin again the miserable existence

of a felon hiding under a false name, whose every effort is required to avoid the pursuit of the police, again to

live the life of anxiety which I have led for twentythree years, and oblige you to share it with me; to wait

each day for a denunciation which sooner or later must come, to wait for the claim for extradition which

"Father," interrupted Benito, whose mind threatened to give way before such obstinacy, "you shall fly! I will

have it so!" And he caught hold of Joam Dacosta, and tried by force to drag him toward the window.

"My son," exclaimed Joam Dacosta, "listen to me! Once already I escaped from the prison at Villa Rica, and

people believed I fled from wellmerited punishment. Yes, they had reason to think so. Well, for the honor of

Benito had fallen on his knees before his father. He held up his hands to him; he begged him:

"But this order, father," he repeated, "this order which is due todayeven nowit will contain your

"The order may come, but my determination will not change. No, my son! Joam Dacosta, guilty, might fly!

The scene which followed these words was heartrending. Benito struggled with his father. Manoel,

distracted, kept near the window ready to carry off the prisonerwhen the door of the room opened.

On the threshold appeared the chief of the police, accompanied by the head warder of the prison and a few

soldiers. The chief of the police understood at a glance that an attempt at escape was being made; but he also

understood from the prisoner's attitude that he it was who had no wish to go! He said nothing. The sincerest

pity was depicted on his face. Doubtless he also, like Judge Jarriquez, would have liked Dacosta to have

The chief of the police, who held a paper in his hand, advanced toward the prisoner.

"Before all of you," said Joam Dacosta, "let me tell you, sir, that it only rested with me to get away, and that I

The chief of the police bowed his head, and then, in a voice which he vainly tried to control"

"Joam Dacosta," he said, "the order has this moment arrived from the chief justice at Rio Janeiro."

"This order," asked Joam Dacosta, who had crossed his arms, "this order requires the execution of my

Benito threw himself on his father. Again would he have dragged him from his cell, but the soldiers came and

At a sign from the chief of the police Benito and Manoel were taken away. An end had to be put to this

"Sir," said the doomed man, "before tomorrow, before the hour of my execution, may I pass a few moments

"Thank you, sir," answered Joam; "and now keep guard over that window; it will not do for them to take me

And then the chief of the police, after a respectful bow, retired with the warder and the soldiers.

AND SO the order had come, and, as Judge Jarriquez had foreseen, it was an order requiring the immediate

execution of the sentence pronounced on Joam Dacosta. No proof had been produced; justice must take its

It was the very daythe 31st of August, at nine o'clock in the morning of which the condemned man was to

The death penalty in Brazil is generally commuted except in the case of negroes, but this time it was to be

Such are the penal arrangements relative to crimes in the diamond arrayal, for which, in the public interest,

Nothing could now save Joam Dacosta. It was not only life, but honor that he was about to lose.

But on the 31st of August a man was approaching Manaos with all the speed his horse was capable of, and

such had been the pace at which he had come that half a mile from the town the gallant creature fell,

The rider did not even stop to raise his steed. Evidently he had asked and obtained from it all that was

possible, and, despite the state of exhaustion in which he found himself, he rushed off in the direction of the

The man came from the eastern provinces, and had followed the left bank of the river. All his means had

gone in the purchase of this horse, which, swifter far than any pirogue on the Amazon, had brought him to

Had, then, the brave fellow succeeded in the enterprise of which he had spoken to nobody? Had he found the

party to which Torres belonged? Had he discovered some secret which would yet save Joam Dacosta?

He hardly knew. But in any case he was in great haste to acquaint Judge Jarriquez with what he had

Fragoso had made no mistake when he recognized Torres as one of the captains of the party which was

He set out, and on reaching the mouth of that tributary he learned that the chief of these capitaes da mato was

Without losing a minute, Fragoso started on the search, and, not without difficulty, succeeded in meeting

To Fragoso's questions the chief of the party had no hesitation in replying; he had no interest in keeping

silence with regard to the few simple matters on which he was interrogated. In fact, three questions only of

"Did not a captain of the woods named Torres belong to your party a few months ago?"

"At that time had he not one intimate friend among his companions who has recently died?"

This was all that Fragoso had learned. Was this information of a kind to modify Dacosta's position? It was

Fragoso saw this, and pressed the chief of the band to tell him what he knew of this Ortega, of the place

where he came from, and of his antecedents generally. Such information would have been of great

importance if Ortega, as Torres had declared, was the true author of the crime of Tijuco. But unfortunately

What was certain was that Ortega had been a member of the band for many years, that an intimate friendship

existed between him and Torres, that they were always seen together, and that Torres had watched at his

This was all the chief of the band knew, and he could tell no more. Fragoso, then, had to be contented with

But if the devoted fellow had not brought back the proof that Ortega was the author of the crime of Tijuco, he

had gained one thing, and that was the knowledge that Torres had told the truth when he affirmed that one of

his comrades in the band had died, and that he had been present during his last moments.

The hypothesis that Ortega had given him the document in question had now become admissible. Nothing

was more probable than that this document had reference to the crime of which Ortega was really the author,

and that it contained the confession of the culprit, accompanied by circumstances which permitted of no

And so, if the document could be read, if the key had been found, if the cipher on which the system hung

But this cipher Fragoso did not know. A few more presumptions, a halfcertainty that the adventurer had

invented nothing, certain circumstances tending to prove that the secret of the matter was contained in the

documentand that was all that the gallant fellow brought back from his visit to the chief of the gang of

Nevertheless, little as it was, he was in all haste to relate it to Judge Jarriquez. He knew that he had not an

hour to lose, and that was why on this very morning, at about eight o'clock, he arrived, exhausted with

fatigue, within half a mile of Manaos. The distance between there and the town he traversed in a few minutes.

A kind of irresistible presentiment urged him on, and he had almost come to believe that Joam Dacosta's

Suddenly Fragoso stopped as if his feet had become rooted in the ground. He had reached the entrance to a

There, in the midst of a dense crowd, arose the gallows, towering up some twenty feet, and from it there hung

Fragoso felt his consciousness abandon him. He fell; his eyes involuntarily closed. He did not wish to look,

and these words escaped his lips: "Too late! too late!" But by a superhuman effort he raised himself up. No; it

was not too late, the corpse of Joam Dacosta was not hanging at the end of the rope!

"Judge Jarriquez! Judge Jarriquez!" shouted Fragoso, and panting and bewildered he rushed toward the city

gate, dashed up the principal street of Manaos, and fell halfdead on the threshold of the judge's house. The

In spite of this denial, Fragoso pushed back the man who guarded the entrance, and with a bound threw

"I come from the province where Torres pursued his calling as captain of the woods!" he gasped. "Mr. Judge,

"Come, leave me alone! leave me alone!" shouted Jarriquez, and, a prey to an outburst of rage, he grasped the

"I know," answered Jarriquez; "but it is a truth which will never see the light!"

"No," replied Fragoso; "but, I repeat, Torres has not lied. One of his companions, with whom he was very

intimate, died a few months ago, and there can be no doubt but that this man gave him the document he came

"No," answered Jarriquez"no, there is no doubt about itas far as we are concerned; but that is not

Fragoso, repulsed, would not quit the spot. Again he threw himself at the judge's feet. "Joam Dacosta is

innocent!" he cried; "you will not leave him to die? It was not he who committed the crime of Tijuco; it was

As he uttered the name the judge bounded backward. A kind of calm swiftly succeeded to the tempest which

raged within him. He dropped the document from his clenched hand, smoothed it out on the table, sat down,

and, passing his hand over his eyes"That name?" he said"Ortega? Let us see," and then he proceeded

with the new name brought back by Fragoso as he had done with the other names so vainly tried by himself.

After placing it above the first six letters of the paragraph he obtained the following formula:

And in fact the h placed under the r could not be expressed by a cipher, for, in alphabetical order, this letter

The p, the y, the j, arranged beneath the letters o, t, e, disclosed the cipher 1, 4, 5, but as for the s and the l at

the end of the word, the interval which separated them from the g and the a was a dozen letters, and hence

impossible to express by a single cipher, so that they corresponded to neither g nor a.

Fragoso jumped to one of the windows, and opened it before the judge could hinder him.

The people filled the road. The hour had come at which the doomed man was to start from the prison, and the

Judge Jarriquez, quite frightful to look upon, devoured the lines of the document with a fixed stare.

And then, with a hand whose agitation nearly prevented him from writing at all, he placed the name of Ortega

An exclamation immediately escaped him. He saw, at first glance, that the six last letters were inferior in

alphabetical order to those which composed Ortega's name, and that consequently they might yield the

And when he reduced the formula, reckoning each later letter from the earlier letter of the word, he obtained.

But was this number that which had been used in the document? Was it not as erroneous as those he had

At this moment the shouts below redoubledshouts of pity which betrayed the sympathy of the excited

Fragoso, maddened with grief, darted from the room! He wished to see, for the last time, his benefactor who

was on the road to death! He longed to throw himself before the mournful procession and stop it, shouting,

But already Judge Jarriquez had placed the given number above the first letters of the paragraph, repeating

And then, reckoning the true letters according to their alphabetical order, he read:

A yell of delight escaped him! This number, 432513, was the number sought for so long! The name of Ortega

had enabled him to discover it! At length he held the key of the document, which would incontestably prove

the innocence of Joam Dacosta, and without reading any more he flew from his study into the street,

To cleave the crowd, which opened as he ran, to dash to the prison, whence the convict was coming at the last

moment, with his wife and children clinging to him with the violence of despair, was but the work of a

Stopping before Joam Dacosta, he could not speak for a second, and then these words escaped his lips:

ON THE ARRIVAL of the judge the mournful procession halted. A roaring echo had repeated after him and

Then complete silence fell on all. The people did not want to lose one syllable of what was about to be

Judge Jarriquez sat down on a stone seat, and then, while Minha, Benito, Manoel, and Fragoso stood round

him, while Joam Dacosta clasped Yaquita to his heart, he first unraveled the last paragraph of the document

by means of the number, and as the words appeared by the institution of the true letters for the cryptological

ones, he divided and punctuated them, and then read it out in a loud voice. And this is what he read in the

injustement condamn� � mort, c'est moi, les mis�rable 34325134325 13432513 4 3251 3432 513 43

251343251 l4msyuhqpz drrgcroh e pqxu fivv rpl ph onthvddqf employ� de l'administration du district

diamantin, 3432513 43 251343251343251 34 32513432 513432513 hqsntzh hh nfepmqkyuuexkto gz

gkyuumfv ijdqdpzjq out, moi seul, qui signe de mon vrai nom, Ortega. 432 513 4325 134 32513 43 251 3432

"The real author of the robbery of the diamonds and of the murder of the soldiers who escorted the convoy,

committed during the night of the twentysecond of January, one thousand eight hundred and twentysix,

was thus not Joam Dacosta, unjustly condemned to death; it was I, the wretched servant of the Administration

of the diamond district; yes, I alone, who sign this with my true name, Ortega."

The reading of this had hardly finished when the air was rent with prolonged hurrahs.

What could be more conclusive than this last paragraph, which summarized the whole of the document, and

proclaimed so absolutely the innocence of the fazender of Iquitos, and which snatched from the gallows this

Joam Dacosta, surrounded by his wife, his children, and his friends, was unable to shake the hands which

were held out to him. Such was the strength of his character that a reaction occurred, tears of joy escaped

from his eyes, and at the same instant his heart was lifted up to that Providence which had come to save him

so miraculously at the moment he was about to offer the last expiation to that God who would not permit the

Yes! There could be no doubt as to the vindication of Joam Dacosta. The true author of the crime of Tijuco

confessed of his own free will, and described the circumstances under which it had been perpetrated!

He had been the colleague of Joam Dacosta, employed, like him, at Tijuco, in the offices of the governor of

the diamond arrayal. He had been the official appointed to accompany the convoy to Rio de Janeiro, and, far

from recoiling at the horrible idea of enriching himself by means of murder and robbery, he had informed the

During the attack of the scoundrels, who awaited the convoy just beyond Villa Rica, he pretended to defend

himself with the soldiers of the escort, and then, falling among the dead, he was carried away by his

accomplices. Hence it was that the solitary soldier who survived the massacre had reported that Ortega had

But the robbery did not profit the guilty man in the long run, for, a little time afterward, he was robbed by

Penniless, and unable to enter Tijuco again, Ortega fled away to the provinces in the north of Brazil, to those

districts of the Upper Amazon where the capitaes da mato are to be found. He had to live somehow, and so he

joined this not very honorable company; they neither asked him who he was nor whence he came, and so

Ortega became a captain of the woods, and for many years he followed the trade of a chaser of men.

During this time Torres, the adventurer, himself in absolute want, became his companion. Ortega and he

became most intimate. But, as he had told Torres, remorse began gradually to trouble the scoundrel's life. The

remembrance of his crime became horrible to him. He knew that another had been condemned in his place!

He knew subsequently that the innocent man had escaped from the last penalty, but that he would never be

free from the shadow of the capital sentence! And then, during an expedition of his party for several months

beyond the Peruvian frontier, chance caused Ortega to visit the neighborhood of Iquitos, and there in Joam

Henceforth he resolved to make all the reparation he could for the injustice of which is old comrade had been

the victim. He committed to the document all the facts relative to the crime of Tijuco, writing it first in

French, which had been his mother's native tongue, and then putting it into the mysterious form we know, his

intention being to transmit it to the fazender of Iquitos, with the cipher by which it could be read.

Death prevented his completing his work of reparation. Mortally wounded in a scuffle with some negroes on

the Madeira, Ortega felt he was doomed. His comrade Torres was then with him. He thought he could intrust

to his friend the secret which had so grievously darkened his life. He gave him the document, and made him

swear to convey it to Joam Dacosta, whose name and address he gave him, and with his last breath he

whispered the number 432513, without which the document would remain undecipherable.

Ortega dead, we know how the unworthy Torres acquitted himself of his mission, how he resolved to turn to

his own profit the secret of which he was the possessor, and how he tried to make it the subject of an odious

Torres died without accomplishing his work, and carried his secret with him. But the name of Ortega, brought

back by Fragoso, and which was the signature of the document, had afforded the means of unraveling the

cryptogram, dtanks to the sagacity of Judge Jarriquez. Yes, the material proof sought after for so long was the

incontestable witness of the innocence of Joam Dacosta, returned to life, restored to honor.

The cheers redoubled when the worthy magistrate, in a loud voice, and for the edification of all, read from the

And from that moment Judge Jarriquez, whoo possessed this indubitable proof, arranged with the chief of the

police, and declined to allow Joam Dacosta, while waiting new instructions from Rio Janeiro, to stay in any

There could be no difficulty about this, and in the center of the crowd of the entire population of Manaos,

Joam Dacosta, accompanied by all his family, beheld himself conducted like a conquerer to the magistrate's

And in that minute the honest fazender of Iquitos was well repaid for all that he had suffered during the long

years of exile, and if he was happy for his family's sake more than for his own, he was none the less proud for

Well, the goodhearted fellow was covered with caresses! Benito, Manoel, and Minha had overwhelmed

him, and Lina had by no means spared him. He did not know what to do, he defended himself as best he

could. He did not deserve anything like it. Chance alone had done it. Were any thanks due to him for having

recognized Torres as a captain of the woods? No, certainly not. As to his idea of hurrying off in search of the

band to which Torres had belonged, he did not think it had been worth much, and as to the name of Ortega,

Gallant Fragoso! Whether he wished it or no, he had none the less saved Joam Dacosta!

And herein what a strange succession of different events all tending to the same end. The deliverance of

Fragoso at the time when he was dying of exhaustion in the forest of Iquitos; the hospitable reception he had

met with at the fazenda, the meeting with Torres on the Brazilian frontier, his embarkation on the jangada;

"Well, yes!" Fragoso ended by exclaiming; "but it is not to me that all this happiness is due, it is due to Lina!"

"No doubt of it. Without the liana, without the idea of the liana, could I ever have been the cause of so much

So that Fragoso and Lina were praised and petted by all the family, and by all the new friends whom so many

But had not Judge Jarriquez also had his share in this rehabilitation of an innocent man? If, in spite of all the

shrewdness of his analytical talents, he had not been able to read the document, which was absolutely

undecipherable to any one who had not got the key, had he not at any rate discovered the system on which the

cryptogram was composed? Without him what could have been done with only the name of Ortega to

reconstitute the number which the author of the crime and Torres, both of whom were dead, alone knew?

Needless to say that the same day there was sent to Rio de Janeiro a detailed report of the whole affair, and

with it the original document and the cipher to enable it to be read. New instructions from the minister of

justice had to be waited for, though there could be no doubt that they would order the immediate discharge of

the prisoner. A few days would thus have to be passed at Manaos, and then Joam Dacosta and his people, free

from all constraint, and released from all apprehension, would take leave of their host to go on board once

more and continue their descent of the Amazon to Para, where the voyage was intended to terminate with the

Four days afterward, on the fourth of September, the order of discharge arrived. The document had been

recognized as authentic. The handwriting was really that of Ortega, who had been formerly employed in the

diamond district, and there could be no doubt that the confession of his crime, with the minutest details that

The innocence of the convict of Villa Rica was at length admitted. The rehabilitation of Joam Dacosta was at

That very day Judge Jarriquez dined with the family on board the giant raft, and when evening came he shook

hands with them all. Touching were the adieus, but an engagement was made for them to see him again on

On the morning of the morrow, the fifth of September, the signal for departure was given. Joam Dacosta and

Yaquita, with their daughter and sons, were on the deck of the enormous raft. The jangada had its moorings

slackened off and began to move with the current, and when it disappeared round the bend of the Rio Negro,

the hurrahs of the whole population of Manaos, who were assembled on the bank, again and again reechoed

LITTLE REMAINS to tell of the second part of the voyage down the mighty river. It was but a series of days

of joy. Joam Dacosta returned to a new life, which shed its happiness on all who belonged to him.

The giant raft glided along with greater rapidity on the waters now swollen by the floods. On the left they

passed the small village of Don Jose de Maturi, and on the right the mouth of that Madeira which owes its

name to the floating masses of vegetable remains and trunks denuded of their foliage which it bears from the

depths of Bolivia. They passed the archipelago of Caniny, whose islets are veritable boxes of palms, and

before the village of Serpa, which, successively transported from one back to the other, has definitely settled

on the left of the river, with its little houses, whose thresholds stand on the yellow carpet of the beach.

The village of Silves, built on the left of the Amazon, and the town of Villa Bella, which is the principal

guarana market in the whole province, were soon left behind by the giant raft. And so was the village of Faro

and its celebrated river of the Nhamundas, on which, in 1539, Orellana asserted he was attacked by female

warriors, who have never been seen again since, and thus gave us the legend which justifies the immortal

Here it is that the province of Rio Negro terminates. The jurisdiction of Para then commences; and on the 22d

of September the family, marveling much at a valley which has no equal in the world, entered that portion of

And this was what might have been expected of these folks from the different points of view, though time

passed pleasantly enough with them all the same. Benito, who was neither patient nor impatient, had

Soon the jangada glided between interminable plantations of cocoatrees with their somber green flanked by

the yellow thatch or ruddy tiles of the roofs of the huts of the settlers on both banks from Obidos up to the

Then there opened out the mouth of the Rio Trombetas, bathing with its black waters the houses of Obidos,

situated at about one hundred and eighty miles from Belem, quite a small town, and even a "citade" with

large streets bordered with handsome habitations, and a great center for cocoa produce. Then they saw

another tributary, the Tapajos, with its greenishgray waters descending from the southwest; and then

Santarem, a wealthy town of not less than five thousand inhabitants, Indians for the most part, whose nearest

After its departure from Manaos the jangada did not stop anywhere as it passed down the much less

encumbered course of the Amazon. Day and night it moved along under the vigilant care of its trusty pilot; no

more stoppages either for the gratification of the passengers or for business purposes. Unceasingly it

On leaving Alemquer, situated on the left bank, a new horizon appeared in view. In place of the curtain of

forests which had shut them in up to then, our friends beheld a foreground of hills, whose undulations could

be easily descried, and beyond them the faint summits of veritable mountains vandyked across the distant

depth of sky. Neither Yaquita, nor her daughter, nor Lina, nor old Cybele, had ever seen anything like this.

But in this jurisdiction of Para, Manoel was at home, and he could tell them the names of the double chain

"To the right," said he, "that is the Sierra de Paracuarta, which curves in a halfcircle to the south! To the left,

that is the Sierra de Curuva, of which we have already passed the first outposts."

And the two young men seemed to understand each other, for the same slight but significant nodding of the

At last, notwithstanding the tide, which since leaving Obidos had begun to be felt, and which somewhat

checked the progress of the raft, the town of Monto Alegre was passed, then that of Pravnha de Onteiro, then

the mouth of the Xingu, frequented by Yurumas Indians, whose principal industry consists in preparing their

To what a superb size the Amazon had now developed as already this monarch of rivers gave signs of

opening out like a sea! Plants from eight to ten feet high clustered along the beach, and bordered it with a

forest of reeds. Porto de Mos, Boa Vista, and Gurupa, whose prosperity is on the decline, were soon among

Then the river divided into two important branches, which flowed off toward the Atlantic, one going away

northeastward, the other eastward, and between them appeared the beginning of the large island of Marajo.

This island is quite a province in itself. It measures no less than a hundred and eighty leagues in

circumference. Cut up by marshes and rivers, all savannah to the east, all forest to the west, it offers most

excellent advantages for the raising of cattle, which can here be seen in their thousands. This immense

barricade of Marajo is the natural obstacle which has compelled the Amazon to divide before precipitating its

torrents of water into the sea. Following the upper branch, the jangada, after passing the islands of Caviana

and Mexiana, would have found an embouchure of some fifty leagues across, but it would also have bet with

the bar of the prororoca, that terrible eddy which, for the three days preceding the new or full moon, takes but

two minutes instead of six hours to raise the river from twelve to fifteen feet above ordinary highwater

This is by far the most formidable of tideraces. Most fortunately the lower branch, known as the Canal of

Breves, which is the natural area of the Para, is not subject to the visitations of this terrible phenomenon, and

its tides are of a more regular description. Araujo, the pilot, was quite aware of this. He steered, therefore,

into the midst of magnificent forests, here and there gliding past island covered with muritis palms; and the

weather was so favorable that they did not experience any of the storms which so frequently rage along this

A few days afterward the jangada passed the village of the same name, which, although built on the ground

flooded for many months in the year, has become, since 1845, an important town of a hundred houses.

Throughout these districts, which are frequented by Tapuyas, the Indians of the Lower Amazon become more

and more commingled with the white population, and promise to be completely absorbed by them.

And still the jangada continued its journey down the river. Here, at the risk of entanglement, it grazed the

branches of the mangliers, whose roots stretched down into the waters like the claws of gigantic crustaceans;

then the smooth trunks of the paletuviers, with their palegreen foliage, served as the restingplaces for the

Then came the Tocantins, whose waters, due to the different rivers of the province of Goyaz, mingle with

those of the Amazon by an embouchure of great size, then the Moju, then the town of Santa Ana.

Majestically the panorama of both banks moved along without a pause, as though some ingenious mechanism

Already numerous vessels descending the river, ubas, egariteas, vigilandas, pirogues of all builds, and small

coasters from the lower districts of the Amazon and the Atlantic seaboard, formed a procession with the giant

At length here appeared on the left Santa Maria de Belem do Parathe "town" as they call it in that

countrywith its picturesque lines of white houses at many different levels, its convents nestled among the

palmtrees, the steeples of its cathedral and of Nostra Senora de Merced, and the flotilla of its brigantines,

The hearts of the passengers of the giant raft beat high. At length they were coming to the end of the voyage

which they had thought they would never reach. While the arrest of Joam detained them at Manaos, halfway

on their journey, could they ever have hoped to see the capital of the province of Para?

It was in the course of this day, the 15th of Octoberfour months and a half after leaving the fazenda of

The arrival of the jangada had been signaled for some days. The whole town knew the story of Joam Dacosta.

They came forth to welcome him, and to him and his people accorded a most sympathetic reception.

Hundreds of craft of all sorts conveyed them to the fazender, and soon the jangada was invaded by all those

who wished to welcome the return of their compatriot after his long exile. Thousands of sightseersor

more correctly speaking, thousands of friends crowded on to the floating village as soon as it came to its

moorings, and it was vast and solid enough to support the entire population. Among those who hurried on

board one of the first pirogues had brought Madame Valdez. Manoel's mother was at last able to clasp to her

arms the daughter whom her son had chosen. If the good lady had not been able to come to Iquitos, was it not

as though a portion of the fazenda, with her new family, had come down the Amazon to her?

Before evening the pilot Araujo had securely moored the raft at the entrance of a creek behind the arsenal.

That was to be its last restingplace, its last halt, after its voyage of eight hundred leagues on the great

Brazilian artery. There the huts of the Indians, the cottage of the negroes, the storerooms which held the

valuable cargo, would be gradually demolished; there the principal dwelling, nestled beneath its verdant

tapestry of flowers and foliage, and the little chapel whose humble bell was then replying to the sounding

But, ere this was done, a ceremony had to take place on the jangadathe marriage of Manoel and Minha, the

marriage of Lina and Fragoso. To Father Passanha fell the duty of celebrating the double union which

promised so happily. In that little chapel the two couples were to receive the nuptial benediction from his

If it happened to be so small as to be only capable of holding the members of Dacosta's family, was not the

giant raft large enough to receive all those who wished to assist at the ceremony? and if not, and the crowd

became swo great, did not the ledges of the river banks afford sifficient room for as many others of the

sympathizing crowd as were desirous of welcoming him whom so signal a reparation had made the hero of

It was on the morrow, the 16th of October, that with great pomp the marriages were celebrated.

It was a magnificent day, and from about ten o'clock in the morning the raft began to receive its crowd of

guests. On the bank could be seen almost the entire population of Belem in holiday costume. On the river,

vessels of all sorts crammed with visitors gathered round the enormous mass of timber, and the waters of the

Amazon literally disappeared even up to the left bank beneath the vast flotilla.

When the chapel bell rang out its opening note it seemed like a signal of joy to ear and eye. In an instant the

churches of Belem replied to the bell of the jangada. The vessels in the port decked themselves with flags up

to their mastheads, and the Brazilian colors were saluted by the many other national flags. Discharges of

musketry reverberated on all sides, and it was only with difficulty that their joyous detonations could cope

The Dacosta family came forth from their house and moved through the crowd toward the little chapel. Joam

was received with absolutely frantic applause. He gave his arm to Madame Valdez; Yaquita was escorted by

the governor of Belem, who, accompanied by the friends of the young army surgeon, had expressed a wish to

honor the ceremony with his presence. Manoel walked by the side of Minha, who looked most fascinating in

her bride's costume, and then came Fragoso, holding the hand of Lina, who seemed quite radiant with joy.

Then followed Benito, then old Cybele and the servants of the worthy family between the double ranks of the

Padre Passanha awaited the two couples at the entrance of the chapel. The ceremony was very simple, and the

same bands which had formerly blessed Joam and Yaquita were again stretched forth to give the nuptial

So much happiness was not likely to be interrupted by the sorrow of long separation. In fact, Manoel Valdez

almost immediately sent in his resignation, so as to join the family at Iquitos, where he is still following the

Naturally the Fragosos did not hesitate to go back with those who were to them friends rather than masters.

Madame Valdez had no desire to separate so happy a group, but she insisted on one thing, and that was that

they should often come and see her at Belem. Nothing could be easier. Was not the mighty river a bond of

communication between Belem and Iquitos? In a few days the first mail steamer was to begin a regular and

rapid service, and it would then only take a week to ascend the Amazon, on which it had taken the giant raft

so many months to drift. The important commercial negotiations, ably managed by Benito, were carried

through under the best of conditions, and soon of what had formed this jangadathat is to say, the huge raft

of timber constructed from an entire forest at Iquitosthere remained not a trace.

A month afterward the fazender, his wife, his son, Manoel and Minha Valdez, Lina and Fragoso, departed by

one of the Amazon steamers for the immense establishment at Iquitos of which Benito was to take the

Joam Dacosta reentered his home with his head erect, and it was indeed a family of happy hearts which he

brought back with him from beyond the Brazilian frontier. As for Fragoso, twenty times a day was he heard

to repeat, "What! without the liana?" and he wound up by bestowing the name on the young mulatto who, by

her affection for the gallant fellow, fully justified its appropriateness. "If it were not for the one letter," he